The Commission
by CV12Hornet
Summary: RWBY AU. At the flip of a coin, good can become evil... Right can become wrong... Light can turn to dark... And the mightiest of heroes... can become the greatest of villains... (Discontinued)
1. Prologue

**_Legends._**

 ** _Stories scattered through time._**

 ** _Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past._**

 ** _What they do not recall is how easily chance can sway the fate of worlds._**

 ** _At the flip of a coin, good can become evil..._**

 ** _Right can become wrong..._**

 ** _Light can turn to dark..._**

 ** _And the mightiest of heroes... can become the greatest of villains..._**

 **-o-**

 _"-thorities are still interviewing witnesses, but luckily there appear to have been no civilian casualties. For those of you just joining us, we here at Channel 15 Central Remnant News Network are broadcasting to you live from the Schnee Dust Company's Vale regional headquarters, where CEO Weiss Schnee was the target of a major White Fang attack while in the midst of giving a press conference addressing the recent rash of Dust robberies that have been plaguing Vale for the past few months."_

 _"Thankfully, the business prodigy was fully capable of defending herself, and with help from General Yang Xiao Long and the Dust Devils that were on site, the offensive was repulsed without permanent injury. The attack, led by Faunus rights extremist Blake Belladonna, marks another step in a series of serious escalations in the methods employed by the White Fang. Never before have they attempted such a public attack on so prominent a figure, and combined with the recent theft of an entire train of Dust despite considerable escort by the Atlas-"_

A dainty but well-callused finger tapped a command on a Scroll, muting the TV as the anchor started to drift away from the events at the press conference and began moving into speculative territory. While the wild theories of the 'analysts' the station utilized were always amusing, the observer was more interested in the voices she could hear filtering in from the penthouse's front hall.

She didn't have to wait long before the door to the lounge was banged open and the owners of the voices barged in, deep in heated conversation. Well, conversation was one way of defining it. All-out argument was another, far more accurate descriptor.

"-heard of the _concept_ of personal space, or is it subsumed by those animal instincts of yours!?" Weiss Schnee demanded, frustration evident in her voice. "There's a fine line between making the ruse look airtight and making my security - and by extension myself and Yang - look _incompetent!_ For goodness sake, you almost took my _head_ off! And another thing! I was under the impression that you were going to steal a car, maybe two, of Dust. _Not the entire train!"_

"I fail to see the problem, _your highness."_ Blake Belladonna drawled in her nigh-trademark - if slightly tinged by exasperation - deadpan. "You do remember what we're planning to do to the Dust market, right? This all benefits you in the end anyways. And besides, I have my _own_ problems to worry about. My men were growing restless and wanted to make a statement, so we did. I fail to see the problem."

 _"The problem!"_ Weiss hissed furiously. "Is in the _logistics!_ Leaving aside how much it costs to replace three locomotives and and fifty cars of rolling stock, I'll still need to shuffle around massive amounts of Dust to make sure my inventory stays at the proper levels! And that's not even getting into what I'll need to do to keep my shareholders from getting skittish! And another thing, remember the last time we let your White Fang goons hold onto a major cargo?"

"That was not even remotely our fault." Blake snapped. "And besides, there wasn't any damage in the end."

"Apart from us nearly wrecking all our operations in Mistral in an effort to keep the entire debacle covered up!" Weiss shrieked. "I'll have you know that I have _half a mind to-!"_

"Oh calm down, Ice Queen," The cocky and casual voice of Yang Xiao Long interrupted.

"Hey!"

"You too, Kitty Cat."

"I will _spay_ you."

"Let's not fight with each other, alright? We're aaaall friends here. Instead, why don't you both take solace in the fact that me and my men looked like total badasses in the face of apparent impending doom?"

"How is that supposed to make us feel better?" Weiss demanded.

"For once, I agree with her highness." Blake stated flatly. "I'm going to be feeling those 'love-taps' you promised me for a week."

"Weeell..." The grin was evident in Yang's voice as she drew the word out. "I dunno, but it sure is making me feel better!"

Silence reigned for a moment. Then...

"I'll go for her neck."

"I call her face."

"Hey, wha-GYACK!"

The watcher sighed, turning around to the sight of Blake piggybacking Yang while strangling her with Gambol Shroud's ribbon, even as the blonde clenched Myrtenaster between her palms, keeping the rapier's point approximately an inch from the bridge of her nose, despite Weiss's furious efforts to drive it into her skull.

The watcher giggled at the rather comical sight, before clapping her hands to get their attention.

"Alright, guys, I think that's enough. Yang's starting to look a little too purple to be healthy."

Both Blake and Weiss promptly blushed in embarrassment as they withdrew their weapons, leaving Yang coughing and massaging her throat.

"T-thanks, sis." Yang wheezed once her voice came back. "Always knew you were on my side!"

"Oh, don't thank me just yet," Ruby Rose replied sweetly, an impish grin on her face. "I still haven't determined the laundry schedule for the week, and it looks like you just volunteered."

Yang paled. "T-the whole week?"

Ruby simply kept the grin on her face."Yup. Non-machine-washables and all. And that isn't an invitation for you two to pile up the load, by the way."

"Aw, you mean I can't wear my _nice_ dresses this week?" Weiss mock-pouted.

"You're lucky. If we were at the Vacuo safe house, you'd be spending half the week trying to get the grass-stains out." Blake drawled with a grin.

Ruby giggled again at Yang's aggrieved expression before sobering up in an instant. "Alright, reports people. I got the bare-bones version from the news, but I need details."

As though a switch had flipped, the other three women became deathly serious. Yang and Blake promptly joined Ruby by sitting on different parts of the couch, whereas Weiss strolled past them all, drawing a Scroll out of her sleeve and expertly swiping the screen. In response, the large plasma-screen TV's display shifted to show a line graph, upon which most all lines were steadily rising.

"As the latest statistics from my financial team show, the plan went off without a hitch on my end. Despite the losses being _drastically_ higher than we had anticipated," Weiss shot a glare at Blake, who simply rolled her eyes. "The Schnee Dust Company is now in a position to pre-empt all of its competitors by taking advantage of the price spike. In fact, the spike has been high enough to convince the board to fund the expansion of a majority of our Dust mines, as well as authorize the opening of mines on any new veins that might be found."

"About that," Blake cut in, standing and walking up to Weiss's side, taking out her Scroll and using it to bring up a map of Vale, upon which a point to the far south of the city was marked. "Recently, my more scent-enabled comrades have been smelling a _lot_ of Dust around this area. I had some diggers look around. It's a vein, and a big one. It's the main reason why I enlarged the scope of the operation. It _should_ be able to help launder most of the Dust."

Weiss stared slack-jawed at the screen for a second before hastily wiping the drool from her mouth and glaring at the Faunus. "Why didn't you mention that sooner!?"

"It _might_ have had something to do with a certain prissy CEO coming at me like an enraged Boarbatusk before I could get so much as a word in edgewise," Blake deadpanned before flatly gesturing for Weiss to take a seat.

The Schnee matriarch had the decency to blush slightly before grumbling as she sat down, arms crossed petulantly.

"Anyways..." Blake rolled her eyes. "Our take of the theft almost doubled our Dust inventory. We'll be good on that front for another few months. And with two more successful high-profile attacks under our belt, I expect recruitment to start ticking up. Oh, and Weiss? I'd like to thank you for lending us Emerald. We probably wouldn't have been able to pull off taking the entire train without her. I'm... actually still not sure how we _did,_ for that matter."

Weiss' chuckled, her expression softening. "Frankly, I'm not sure anyone knows how Miss Sustrai does those sorts of things, apart from her and and perhaps Ms. Fall."

"Well, whatevs!" Yang exclaimed, cockily propping her feet up on the - _"Mahogany!"_ Weiss hissed furiously - coffee table before her, stretching her arms up above her contentedly. "My turn! Everything's going _great_ for me! Atlas is looking even _more_ like a chump than it usually does! Check it out!" She tapped her thumb on her scroll triumphantly, bringing up an array of messages on the screen. "I've got contracts rolling in from all over! White Rose Shipping! Checkmate Enterprises! Ladybug Pharmaceuticals! Vacuo! Vale! Hell, _Atlas itself_ is hiring us!"

"And Mistral?" Blake deadpanned.

"We're working on it, okay?" Yang rolled her eyes. "You try establishing a foothold on another continent, see how easy it is. Be thankful that I've managed to get as many people working up the ranks as I have. But still, yeah, we've got a few minor postings. Not as many as I'd like, but it's better than nothing."

"We'll need to do something about that, wouldn't want them to become the odd man out and notice the state of affairs before it's too late..." Ruby mused.

"Eh, I'll handle it." Yang waved her hand airily before grinning at her sibling. "Anyways, what about you, sis?"

"The heist went off without a hitch. I'll need to warn Torchwick and his men that there are going to be a lot of Hunters frequenting commercial Dust shops, given that the Vale central armory is currently empty," Ruby stated with some pride as she sat up. "I've got to hand it to Torchwick, they were in and out with no one the wiser. Shame I have to use him on petty burglaries." She clapped her hands and nodded as she stood up, beaming contentedly. "Anyways, good job everyone! We're actually ahead of schedule, which is something I didn't dare hope would happen. Blake, it's time for the White Fang and the Scarlet Thorns to start joint operations. We'll need to take it slow, can't let everyone else know how close relations really are, but..."

"I'll have Adam spread the word for the other branches to prepare to make contact with your people." Blake assured her friend. "I'll also make sure to keep any of the more... _argumentative_ elements from making too much noise. Also, do you want us to continue developing Mountain Glenn? I know you were considering abandoning it due to time constraints, but now..."

Ruby pondered the question before shrugging. "Eh, why not, we've got time to burn. Let's splurge a bit! With any luck we'll be able to make back what we spend on it. Now then, Weiss, Yang, time to get aggressive. And I mean more aggressive than we've been up until now."

Weiss nodded sharply, her smile one that truly lived up to her name. "I'll start outlining the corporate takeovers as soon as possible and have Ms. Fall draw up as many details as she can."

Yang's smirk took on a savage overtone as she cracked her knuckles decisively. "I'll be doing my own 'takeovers', though they'll be less 'corporate' and more 'brutal'. I think that the competition's been getting a bit too rowdy for my taste anyways. Time to finally show the world what the Dust Devils can _really_ do!"

"Don't go, too overboard, sis," Ruby cautioned. "We'll want _some_ of them alive. But... still..." She allowed herself to grin eagerly. "I get where you're coming from. Finally... after all this time…"

"I do believe this calls for a… celebration," Weiss said, standing up and making her way to one of the cabinets that lined the lounge. Reaching in, she pulled out a bottle of wine and four glasses. "My father may have been a frigid, callous bastard, but I can't deny he had excellent taste in wine."

"Oh! We should do it on the balcony!" Ruby exclaimed with childish glee.

"Isn't that a bit cliché?" Blake asked, amusement present in her flat voice despite the fact that she followed the shorter individual out under the night sky.

"Ah who gives a damn?" Yang scoffed. "You call it cliche, I call it traditional! Plus..." She smirked as she looked out out onto the lights of the city. "This place has a _kickass_ view."

"Can't argue with that," Blake shrugged, stepping out onto the balcony. Ruby and Weiss followed, wine glasses in hand. Yang and Blake each took one, and for a moment all four simply stared out into the city of Vale.

"Isn't there one more part to this?" Blake asked.

"Yup. A toast!" Yang cried out. "To us!"

"To the Strategos!" Blake concurred.

"To the Commission!" Weiss added.

"To victory." Ruby concluded quietly.

And with that, the four downed their drinks and watched the shattered fragments of their moon hang high above Remnant, outlined by the array of stars around them. They did not go back in for another hour.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was late in the evening when the proprietor of From Dust 'Til Dawn was able to sit down for a few minutes to rest his aching feet and knees. Still, it was but a small price to pay. The reward was worth it.

Callous though it might be, the senior citizen could honestly say that the recent robbery of Vale's central Hunter armory was one of the best things that could have happened to him. After all, it had resulted in him acquiring a _lot_ of customers, as Hunters and students from the nearby academies alike frequented the commercial shops in lieu of stocking up at the armory. The bad news was, well... that he had a lot of customers buying Dust. The line had been nearly out the door all day. Still, the healthy amount of lien stuffing his cash register did more than enough to assuage his pain.

"If this keeps up I'm going to need to hire a cashier…" he chuckled goodnaturedly. He was roused from his happy state by the tinkling of the doorbell, prompting him to look up.

He immediately stiffened in alarm and snapped to his feet at the sight of four men dressed in identical black suits and hats wearing red ties and sunglasses strolling into his store. Leading them was a tall, orange-haired, impeccably-dressed man in a cream-colored suit, a cane in one hand and a cigar held to his mouth with the other. They were clearly shady, and not just because most of them were wearing sunglasses at night. The way that they were all hungrily eyeing his remaining stock did little to help matters.

The tall man flicked his cigar and blew out a cloud of smoke as he casually leaned on the display counter. "Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" The man drawled. The owner's blood practically froze when one of the suited men drew a gun from behind his back and pointed it at his face.

"P-please! Just take my Lien and leave!" The old man stuttered, before the lead man silenced him with a raised finger.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, calm down, we're not here for your money," he said, his face apologetic before hardening into a determined scowl. "Grab the dust."

The henchmen promptly fanned out. One pulled out a case full of cylindrical storage containers, offering them to two others who then walked up to the tubes of powdered Dust that lined the wall and began siphoning it into the cylinders. The old man jumped as another slammed another open case on the counter.

"Crystals. Burn. Uncut," he grunted. Clearly a man of few words. The old man nodded mutely, opening the cabinet and moving the crystals into the box.

The third henchman ducked behind the racks of magazines, music CDs, and sundry other goods, leaving the fourth standing in the doorway to keep an eye on the street.

"All clear, boss," Henchman #3 reported. "No one else in the shop."

Roman smiled, a content grin on his face. "Ah, I love it when a heist comes together. Oh, and I have to hand it to you, Old Man, you replenish your wares quickly. I mean, you're the only store I've visited tonight that was fully stocked with Dust. The rest of the stores we've cracked into have been practically empty."

Meanwhile, Henchman #4 was somewhat bored. This late at night, most of Vale was devoid of pedestrian traffic. He didn't see why he had to stand out here in the chilly night air doing nothing while his buddies got to loot the nice, warm, well-lit store. After all, it was the ass-end of the evening and they were all packing! No way in Remnant would _anyone_ be stupid enough to try and-!

"Excuse me? Could you please move? You're blocking the door."

Henchman #4 started in surprise when he noticed the black-haired young man not five feet away from him. How this kid snuck up on him with those white pants, he didn't know. Pride wounded at that thought, he drew himself up and puffed out his chest. "Beat it, kid, before you get hurt."

The kid slowly blinked his pink eyes before leaning around the goon's hulking figure to look into the shop. He caught sight of the henchman who was still receiving crystals from the hard-pressed proprietor before locking eyes with Torchwick, who narrowed his eyes menacingly in return as he took in a drag from his cigar.

Lie Ren was silent for a moment before sighing explosively. "This is the last time I act as a porter for Nora when she goes shopping the same day I need to get more ammo..." he groaned, cradling his face in his hand.

By now, Henchman #4 was completely fed up with the whole situation. He was cold, bored, and now this kid was more interested in griping about his sister or girlfriend or something despite the armed thug in front of him. He was supposed to be intimidating, dammit! Reaching forward, Henchman #4 tried to grab the brat's arm to throw him against a wall or drag him into an alley or... or... something!

Key word being 'tried'. Roman could only watch in reluctant fascination as Ren grabbed his hapless thug by the arm and _somehow_ flipped him over his shoulder, through the plate glass window that made up the storefront and into the back wall.

Silence reigned in the shop as Roman glared at the newly arrived nuisance. He shot a sharp look at the other underlings he had with him when he noticed them staring at the source of the commotion. "Well?" He demanded. "Get him!"

Ren grit his teeth as the other three goons dropped what they were holding and charged him with their weapons drawn. _'Alright...'_ He thought as he snapped his hands to his Stormflowers. _'Three enemies, human, each wielding a cleave-oriented shortsword. Should be simple enough.'_ He whipped his bladed submachine guns up at his opponents... and mentally cursed when he felt how _un-_ heavy his weapons were. _'Or not. Sorry, sensei, I know I'm supposed to be diversifying my fighting style, but...'_

Luckily, his enemies were not terribly coordinated in their assault, as displayed by one of them getting within melee range ahead of his fellows. Ren stepped into the overhand chop, clamping down on the blade arm and driving the other into the goon's solar plexus. As his opponent hunched over, wheezing, Ren grabbed a handful of his shirt, whipping the goon he was holding into one of the others charging him, bowling them both over.

Ducking as the third henchman whipped his blade through the space his head used to be, Ren turned the momentum into a high axe kick that caught his opponent in the crown of his skull, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Ren made to turn towards the last goon... and almost froze when he caught sight of the SN-39 10mm said henchman was pointing at him.

Training took over then. Against guns, get in close. Boosting his legs with his aura, he dashed in, the henchman's first shot sailing over his head. He never got a chance for a second, as by then Ren was in his face, delivering a rapid-fire series of palm strikes to the chest that ended with him slamming against the wall.

Ren turned back towards Roman and began considering his options. Being the leader, he had to be stronger than those goons, and martial arts expert or not, Ren did not feel comfortable fighting him without every option available.

"Er... excuse me, but would these help?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the shop owner's hesitant voice piping up from behind the shop's counter. Ren was pleasantly surprised when he noticed the clips of Dust rounds that the old man was proferring to him.

"Thank you." Ren nodded in thanks as he took the clips and snapped them into the magazines of his Stormflowers. "How much do I owe you?"

"T-they're on the house..."

"You're too kind..." Ren nodded gratefully.

"Well, you were worth every cent. Truly you were," Roman sneered down at the men groaning around them. "Well, kid, I'd love to stick around, but I've got an appointment to meet." The sight on his Melodic Cudgel popped up and Roman sent one of his trademark explosive shots at Ren's. His target jumped, letting the shot detonate where he'd been standing as he flipped back onto the store's counter.

"What are you doing!?" the shopkeeper shouted in near panic. "Do you know how much Dust is in here?! If it went up-!"

"Oh, I know exactly how much is in here," Roman replied darkly, grinning sadistically as he slowly aimed his cane at the tubes of Dust powder lining the wall. "I'd tell you to enjoy the fireworks, but you won't be around to appreciate them!" And with that, Roman fired at the tubes before booking it out the door.

Eyes wide, Ren grabbed the shopkeeper, pushed as much aura into his legs as he could spare from defense, and leapt off the counter through the shattered window. Just in time for Roman's shot to ignite the mass of powdered Dust. The resulting explosion completely blew out the storefront, buffeting Ren with kinetic force but surprisingly little shrapnel. Thankfully, the old man was none the worse for the wear.

Ren took a moment to stop the world from spinning before looking up and catching sight of Torchwick scrambling his way up a nearby fire escape.

"You alright?" Ren asked the shopkeeper, getting a shaky nod in return. "Good. You should call the fire department before the fire spreads." Getting another nod in return, Ren shot to his feet and darted after Torchwick, shooting up the fire escape like a Beowolf with its tail on fire, circumventing the flights of stairs by flipping up them.

He caught up with Torchwick at the top of the escape, but was forced backwards due to a savage swing from the criminal's cane, which _visibly_ dented the guardrail.

Ren backed away slightly, not willing to get within range of Torchwick's cane. Torchwick, for his part, seemed content to play the waiting game. "Well, points for persistence, kid. You've just caused me more trouble tonight than the entirety of the Vale PD has in the past month. And frankly? That annoys me." The orange-haired man scowled and flicked his cane into a ready position. "I don't. Like. _Annoyances!"_

Ren tensed, ready to move, which proved fortunate as Torchwick fired a spread of three shots. Weaving around the blasts, Ren pulled out his Stormflowers, sending a burst of Dust projectiles downrange and forcing Torchwick back. The back and forth continued for a few minutes until Torchwick was backed onto the edge of the rooftop.

"Oops, guess I'm trapped," Torchwick said, his tone at odds with his precarious position. "Or perhaps not." To Ren's shock, Torchwick took a step back and dropped off the building. He didn't have long to recover before the telltale whine of jet engines filled the air and a Bullhead assault aircraft lifted up above the rooftops.

"End of the line, kid!" Torchwick shouted over the engines, digging a spare Dust crystal from his pocket with his free hand and lobbing it at the teenager before following it up with one last, extra-large shot. He grinned as the massive fireball engulfed most of the rooftop. No way the kid dodged that.

His grin fell when the smoke and flame cleared to reveal a glowing runic glyph in front of Ren, as well as a figure he recognized all too well.

"Shit, Glynda Goodwitch," he swore under his breath before snapping his head towards the ship's cockpit. "Get us out of here!"

The pilot nodded, and the Bullhead began to rise... for all of three seconds until it was enveloped in a furious purple aura.

Torchwick stumbled as the ship shuddered to a halt. Acting swiftly, he dug his Scroll out of his pocket, tapped a number and brought it to his ear. "Hey, Boss? It's me. No no, things have been going great, we got a _lot_ of loot! I'll give you the dropoff point when I get back. But... well, we've run into a bit of a _snag…_ No, not that kind of snag, the other kind!" He bit out a curse when the Bullhead started to slowly drift towards the rooftop. "The kind with the ungodly amount of aura! I know that you don't like me giving you orders, but just this once, how about you make an exception? _Help me, damn it!"_

 **-o-**

Glynda Goodwitch fed a bit more aura into the holding spell she had on the Bullhead. The Crimson Thorns had likely souped up the engines, because it was taking rather more effort than usual to pull the aircraft in. Still, she had aura to spare, and she knew she probably wouldn't get another chance to apprehend the man behind the Dust robberies any time soon, if at all.

She spared a glance at the Lie kid. She knew who he was, of course, she'd interviewed him herself. One of the students that had graduated from Signal this year and was entering Beacon. Seeing as he had made the entirely sensible choice to take cover behind a large air conditioning unit, he would most likely do well.

Turning her full attention back to the Bullhead, she yanked it closer. Now only a few feet from the rooftop, it would not be long before it would be on the ground and the occupants in custody.

Suddenly, without warning, her Aura-fueled instincts _screamed_ , and she hastily flung up a barrier glyph to her left. The action was none too soon, as it was promptly shattered. Nevertheless the impact was strong enough to deflect the projectile that had struck it entirely.

Goodwitch scanned her surroundings, searching for the source of the powerful shot and found...

 _'Nothing!?'_ Her eyes widened in shock. _'But how-!?'_

The educator was given no chance to rest as more blasts suddenly shot at her from practically thin air, forcing her to continue throwing up glyph after glyph and barrier after barrier in order to ward off the ungodly powerful missiles that were being fired at her. The speed of the assault and the fact that she could even see one or two of them ricochet off one of the neighboring buildings and still go right for her worked to obscure the location of her enemy. For a few seconds, she was able to both deflect the shots and still hold onto the Bullhead, a feat of multitasking most people would have considered impossible. But Glynda Goodwitch was _not_ 'most people'.

And then her instincts screamed again. This time, though, the target wasn't Glynda.

Glynda had but a second to consider her options before coming to a decision.

Left with no choice, Glynda let the Bullhead go with a growl and instead threw up additional barrier glyphs in front of the air conditioning unit Ren was hiding behind moments before they impacted. The blast, and the two follow-up shots, glanced off the barriers, but the damage was done. By the time the sniper stopped firing, the Bullhead was a barely visible speck near the horizon.

Glynda tamped down her frustration, and dismissed the glyphs before the Aura drain got too onerous. Ren, meanwhile, poked his head out from behind his cover, a slightly bewildered expression plastered on his face. "What just happened?" He panted.

 **-o-**

The MD Towers were widely considered one of the crowning achievements of modern technology. And for good reason. Each tower allowed instant communication with all four kingdoms, a tremendous advantage for a society under siege. Being communications towers, they also had commanding views of the skylines. Which made them very useful for less… savory tasks.

Ruby Rose sat up from her prone position, unlatched the scope she'd added to her weapon's shaft, grabbed a bottle of water and poured it over Crescent Rose's barrel. Steam bloomed as the water absorbed the heat from firing so many high-powered shots so quickly. A tentative poke yielded no burned fingers, prompting her to sigh in relief. The last thing she needed was to take the time to replace her precious instrument's components due to being warped by the heat.

On that note…

Taking her Scroll out of a pocket, she quickly dialed a number and brought it to her ear.

"Torchwick. I told you to be careful, not get in a fight with _Glynda Goodwitch_. What. The _hell._ _Happened!?"_

 _"Excuse me for not expecting a_ Hunter trainee _to show up at this time of night! All the sane brats stocked up a week in advance for their stupid initiation! I don't know where this brat came from!"_

Ruby pursed her lips in thought before speaking again. "Swing by the drop point, collect the Dust and return to the hideout. The rest of the Strategos and I will examine this matter ourselves. You'd better hope that we come to a satisfying conclusion... for _your_ sake."

She hung up before he could respond and promptly dropped off the edge of the tower.

 **-o-**

Ren shifted in the chair for the fifth time in as many minutes. What was it about government-issued chairs that made them so _uncomfortable_? Miss Goodwitch walking into the room and taking a seat across from him was practically welcome by this point.

"Lie Ren. We've corroborated your story with the shopkeeper who was robbed," she said, looking through a stack of documents shed brought with her. "They line up perfectly, so I don't believe I need to keep you here any longer. I would have preferred it if you had stayed out of this whole mess, but you will be a student at Beacon, and that tends to attract certain… personality types not well suited for staying out of such situations. I'll see you tomorrow, I think. Good luck, Mr. Lie."

Ren nodded, and made his way out of the briefing room. Glynda passed a few moments looking through the documents before she smelled the scent of coffee.

"It's her, Ozpin."

"Her who, Glynda?" Ozpin asked nonchalantly.

Glynda whirled on Ozpin, her face furious. "You know _exactly_ who, Ozpin!" She snarled, her aura flaring up and down her riding crop. "No one else has been able to achieve that degree of accuracy with that high caliber a rifle in _years!_ It's her. It _has_ to be her."

Ozpin stared morosely as he unflinchingly took a sip from his mug.

Glynda shook furiously for a moment before sighing heavily and letting her anger simply... flow out of her as she sank back into her chair. "All four of them, Ozpin. One after another... They were our four best..." She looked up at him with numb desperation. "How could we have failed them so... so _miserably?"_

The headmaster's silence continued as he stared at nothing for a moment before speaking. "Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. Looking back... In all honesty..." He sighed before taking a deep, deep swig from his mug. "I question whether we ever had a chance of success with any of them in the first place..."

Glynda didn't reply. There was… simply nothing else to say.

All that remained between the long-time colleagues was a deep, depressed silence.

 **-o-**

"No."

Yang's eye twitched slightly as she stared at the person who had just denied her. Dressed in a military uniform festooned with medals and ribbons, General Sacre was not an overweight paper-pusher like most of Mistral's generals. This was a man who had seen action, a lot of it, and had kept himself sharp even after stepping away from the battlefield. His office reflected this even better, painted grey and sparsely decorated with a worn desk and a set of filing cabinets. The only nods to aesthetics were the general's leather office chair and a large oil painting of an old Mistral battlefield hung on one wall.

Internally, Yang was _furious,_ ready to slam the old geezer up against a wall and make him _beg_ for mercy. How dare he stand in the way of her goals? In the way of _their_ goals?! The mere notion was... was...! But no. Now wasn't the time for that. They weren't past the time of no return _quite_ yet. They could still reach an acceptable conclusion. As such, now was the time for her to maintain her trademark (or it would be, if Weiss would just give her the money) grin and remain nice and civil. Or at the very least, her version of it.

"Aw c'mon, Sacrey!" She pleaded, clasping her hands together. "Just-!"

"My name is General Azul Sacre." The old commander growled darkly in a tone that brooked no argument.

Yang's grin tightened minutely. "General Sacre," She corrected before sighing and giving him a pleading look. "Listen, General. You need to face facts: The White Fang are becoming less and less tolerant of anyone who so much as laughs at a funny cat video, the Crimson Thorns are getting more and more blatant with their crimes, and don't even get me _started_ on the rate of Grimm attacks. The world is becoming more and more dangerous, it's an undeniable truth!"

"Mistral has effectively weathered greater dangers in the past," Sacre rumbled firmly. "And it will continue to do so in the future."

"But _we_ could do it _together!"_ Yang exclaimed. "Come on, General! Think about it! The Dust Devils field some of, if not _the_ strongest fighters in all of Remnant! We have members from every kingdom - Mistral included! - and every academy known to man! We're sporting a small army! Heck, I'd even go so far as to classify it as a slightly above average one! Imagine it! With Mistral's legendary discipline and our unmitigated strength, your kingdom wouldn't have to fear anyone or anything _ever_ again!"

"I'll give you points for not mentioning that every company worth mentioning and all three other kingdoms have hired you at some point or another," the General snorted.

"I was just getting to that, actually!" Yang laughed good-naturedly. "And you're right! Most everyone who's anyone either employs some of my men or has a contract to call on us when they need help!"

"Hmph..." General Sacre grumbled. "I suppose that most would call these accomplishments of yours impressive..."

"Aww, thanks Sac-!"

 _"Except..."_ Sacre continued, rising to his feet and towering above the blonde imperiously. "I am _not_ 'most people'."

Yang blinked in confusion. "Uh...?"

The General started to slowly pace about the room. "General Xiao Long..."

"Please, please!" She waved her hand airily. "Call me Yang!"

 _"General Xiao Long."_ Sacre continued firmly. "I don't know why you're so eager to have my government hire your Dust Devils. You're already one of the most powerful people on Remnant, head of a military force rivaling anything the Four Kingdoms can muster. That someone with so much power keeps pushing so hard for more... well, that makes me very suspicious. I don't know what you're planning, or even _if_ you're planning anything, but the fact of the matter is that I find you and your organization to be wholly suspect. Call it... an old soldier's instinct."

The general stopped his pacing and glared at the blonde brawler. "Nevertheless, one way or another, I will guarantee you this: on my word of honor, I promise that so long as I serve as a general for the exalted kingdom of Mistral, I will see to it that the Dust Devils will never be formally hired by my nation."

Yang's expression remained frozen for a moment until she slowly allowed her smile to slide into an unreadable frown. "Is that so?" She asked slowly.

"It is."

"... and if I were to take this up with any of the other Generals?" She asked solemnly.

"Then I would inform them of my opinion, and they would undoubtedly heed my superior experience." Sacre stated flatly. "I am sorry, General Xiao Long. I can appreciate what you have done, but the fact remains that you are not welcome here. Now then..." He gestured at the door. "I believe it's time for you to leave."

Nodding slowly, Yang stood up and started to stride towards the door. "Personally, general, I think you're doing your nation a disservice." She stepped into the doorway and halted, her hand resting on the doorknob. "For the record, General... I'm sorry too."

General Sacre narrowed his eyes in confusion. "And why is that?"

Yang glanced over her shoulder, allowing the general to catch sight of her eye flashing crimson. "Because it's _such_ a tragedy that a pack of Rikitiks broke in here and managed to slaughter you before anyone could do anything. A real crying shame. But, ah well! Who knows? Maybe I can play it to my advantage. Maybe the next general I speak to will be more... _appreciative."_

Yang slammed the door shut before the general could respond.

Azul Sacre stared at the door in numb shock for a moment, but before he could do anything more...

"GYAH!"

He let out a cry of shock when _something_ hooked its way into his collar, yanking his neck down and around.

The last thing he saw was a large, manic grin, a flash of metal, and then...

 _"YEEEEAAAARGH!"_

Yang whistled a jaunty tune as she leaned against the office door, tapping her foot impatiently.

"GYEAGH! OH GOD! STOP! STOP! _FOR THE LOVE OF REMNANT, STO-AAAAGHH!"_

The foot tapping picked up speed as Yang pulled a small toolkit out of her pocket, withdrew a thin adjusting rod, and began to tinker with the inner workings of her Ember Celica.

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU-!? AAAAH! MY ARM! _MY AAARM! WHY!?"_

Satisfied with the condition of her weapons, Yang then pulled out her Scroll and began flicking through her text messages, idly checking them one after another and occasionally returning a response.

 _"PLEASE! MERCY! MER-GAAAAGRCHK!"_

Suddenly, Yang's scroll began to vibrate. Pleasantly surprised, the brawler tapped the screen before bringing the device to her ear. "Hey sis, what's up? How're things-?"

"AAAH! NO! THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE POSSIBLE! HOW- _AAAAAH!"_

"Eurgh, hang on a second..." Yang rammed her fist against the door. "HEY, I'VE GOT A CALL! WRAP IT UP IN THERE!"

"NONONONON- _YEEEEAAAARGGggrrrrghhh..."_

The General's voice drew out into a wet gurgle, then fell silent.

Finally, the door swung open, and a petite woman strutted out, humming a chirpy tune as she twirled a parasol she had propped up on her shoulder.

Yang glanced into the room and whistled appreciatively. "Daaamn... fine work! Seriously, I'm impressed!"

The woman's smile widened visibly as she swung her arms out and fell into a curtsey.

"Well, anyways, you go ahead and do what you do, I gotta take this," Yang smiled before turning thoughtful. "Oh, and Neo? You've got a bit of small intestine on your..."

The triple-toned girl glanced upwards and casually flicked the bit of flesh hanging off of her bangs before shooting a curious look at her superior.

"Yeah, you got it."

Neo's smile returned full force as she snapped off a casual salute before skipping away to locations unknown.

Yang brought the phone back to her ear. "Alright, there we go. So, what's got you calling during business hours, Ruby?"

 _"I GOT SEEN!"_ Ruby's voice shrieked out of the speaker. _"Or I got found out or made or... or... one of them! I blew it, and now Goodwitch knows who I am, and Weiss is going to yell at me and Blake won't let me stroke her ears and-and-and-!"_

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, sis. Deep breaths," Yang soothed hastily, slowly moving her hand to and from her chest. "In and out, sis, in and..." She trailed off as she noticed the background noise coming over the connection. "...Ruby, are you stress-hunting again?"

 _"...Maybe?"_

Yang let out a tired groan as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Damn it Ruby, how many times do I have to remind you? We use the buddy system when hunting in case we wander into any of the older Grimm! You _know_ this!"

 _"But the sound of Beowolf bones breaking is_ sooo _soothing..."_

"Then just... I don't know, shred a few muggers or hobos or something! I'm sure there are _plenty_ of those in Vale!" Yang waved her hand helplessly for a moment before sighing. "Ugh, whatever... anyways... what do you _mean_ you 'got seen'?"

 _"I might have been exaggerating… just a tad. Roman got made while he was pulling a heist and I needed to step in and rescue him."_

Yang snickered. "Heh. Pretty boy got taken down a notch, huh?"

 _"Hey! I'll be the first to admit that Torchwick is arrogant and a jerk and really really mean, but I can't deny he gets the job done! He got a_ lot _of Dust before everything went south."_

"Yeah yeah yeah... Anyways, how exactly _did_ Wickless screw up?"

 _"That's... actually the thing."_ The sound of muted explosions tapered off into rushing leaves, a noise Yang recognized as her sister distancing herself from a fight by rising up into the treeline. _"It was a Hunter. Or, one in training, at least."_

"Ha!" Yang barked. "Wickless got his ass beat by a _trainee_? Oh, that I am so going to tease him over that!" She suddenly turned serious. "And what about Goodwitch? How does she factor in?"

 _"The trainee didn't exactly 'beat' Torchwick's ass. He delayed him long enough for Goodwitch to catch up to him and grab his Bullhead. I distracted her by taking a few potshots at the two of them, but..."_

"Right..." Yang sighed wearily as she ground her palm into her forehead. "Best damn sniper in Beacon, I remember. And so do Goodwitch, Ozpin, Port and every other member of the faculty. Damn it..."

Silence reigned over the pair until Yang spoke again. "So, what do we do with him?"

 _"...I'm going to call Weiss and Blake and tell them what happened. After that... well, the Beacon initiation ceremony is the day after tomorrow, right?"_

"Yeah?"

 _"Well, I didn't actually_ see _this trainee fight, so I want to know if he's as good as Roman claims he is. I'm thinking that we all have a bit of a... 'movie night'. We get together, lay back, relax and have some fun watching a bunch of teenagers fight for their lives."_

"Ooooh, I get it!" Yang snapped her fingers in comprehension. "If the rookie gets accepted into Beacon, then Torchwick more or less fought a fully-fledged hunter and he actually has a reason to whine for once!"

 _"And if the rookie loses... well..."_ Ruby's voice took on a dark tone. _"I compromised myself to save him, Yang. He'd better hope that there was legitimate reason for me to do that."_

"I hear you, sis, I hear you." Yang nodded solemnly in agreement before groaning and cracking her back. "Aaaaanyways, I've had a hell of a day. I'm gonna clean things up here, tie up a few loose ends and then turn in, alright?"

 _"Yeah, yeah, alright. Talk to you later. Oh, and Yang?"_

"Yeah, little sis?"

 _"Thanks for calming me down."_

"Any time, Ruby. Any time." And with that, Yang cut the connection. She then closed her eyes and allowed her face to become calm and neutral.

When she opened her eyes again a second later, they were sad and haunted, and her face bore a gaunt expression of horror. "G-general Aconit?" She stammered in a grief-stricken voice. "T-this is General Yang Xiao Long, of the Dust Devil Freelancer Company. I-I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, I... I can't believe that I let this happen. I... it's General Sacre. I... I'm afraid that he's dead. I-It was so fast, I only left the room for a second-! Rikitiks. A whole pack of them. I... I've never seen anything like it, there isn't even a _body_ left... I'd heard that they were bad, but I never imagined that they could tunnel so far, move so fast… No, thank you. He-he deserved nothing less… Yes, I'll be there. Send me an RSVP, okay? W-we'll try and save as much as we can. I... yes. See you then. Thank you. Goodbye."

Once she was finished, Yang snapped back to her cheerful expression and looked over her shoulder at the smiling woman behind her. "What do you think? Convincing enough, or should I throw in some tears?"

Neo beamed and gave her a pair of thumbs up.

"Awesome."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Yang!"

"Ruby!"

The two sisters swept each other into a hug, holding it for a moment before breaking away.

"It's so good to see you again, sis," Yang laughed.

"Yang, you saw me a week ago," Ruby scolded.

"I know! That's _way_ too long! Almost criminal, really!"

Ruby shook her head in amusement at her sister's antics. "So, how'd your trip to Mistral turn out?"

"Terrible!" Yang swooned, draping her arm over her forehead. "General Sacre got shredded by Rikitiks before I could convince him of the Dust Devil's awesomeness! A tragedy! Such a _tragedy!"_

Neo nodded in agreement, feigning crying motions and extravagantly blowing her nose with a handkerchief.

"Funny." Ruby deadpanned. "Personally, I could have sworn I heard Neo working her magic in the background."

Yang and Neo snickered at that. "Yeah, it's weird how those two sound so similar." Yang admitted before stepping back. "But anyways!" She swung her arm out to indicate the room. "Welcome to Casa de Xiao Long! My home away from... well, actually, it pretty much _is_ my home!"

Ruby raised an eyebrow as she stared at the array of armchairs, sofas, dirty dishes, magazines television screens and gaming consoles. "It's... really... really..." She hesitated as she searched for a word. "You."

"Please tell me the Casa includes drinks," Roman groused as he strode around his boss. "I have been having a very bad past few days that I'd like to forget."

Neo obligingly shattered and returned with a bottle that she tossed to him.

Torchwick grunted appreciatively as he twisted the cap off. "Thanks. So, how's big, loud and yellow been treating you, Neo?"

Neo's grin cocked into a full-blown smile.

"Glad to hear it..." Torchwick sighed as he plopped down on one of the armchairs and folded out the footrest. "Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be thoroughly and viciously drowning the memories of my past few days."

Yang raised her eyebrow at the master criminal. "Let me guess. Shit duty?"

"Literally." Ruby nodded.

"A crass, but... appropriate punishment, I must admit."

"Weiss!" Ruby cheered, flinging her arms around the woman's neck.

"Ack! Ruby, not the neck! We've talked about this!"

"Good to see you again, Weiss Queen!" Yang laughed as she wrapped her arms around the two of them and...

"MY SPINE!"

"AGH! YANG, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS!"

"Steel rods ain't cutting it, huh?" Mercury drawled as he walked in behind Cinder, side-by-side with Emerald.

"Mm, yes, it appears General Xiao Long has gotten stronger again," Cinder mused as she worked on her larger-than-average Scroll. "Shall I have your tailors upgrade your corset to titanium instead?"

Weiss made a strangled sound of rage in response.

"Understood, Miss Schnee."

The green-haired thief, meanwhile, drifted over to where Roman was polishing off his beer, leaning on the top of the chair. "So, the 'professional' screwed up and is now in the doghouse. Oh, how the mighty. Have. Fallen."

She didn't even flinch when Roman flicked his cane up and pressed the barrel into her chin. "Do be quiet, sweetheart, daddy is trying to get very drunk here, and he'd _hate_ to have to beat your ass into the ground."

Emerald barked out a laugh. "You? Beat me?" In an instant, she had a pistol drawn and the barrel pressed against Torchwick's skull. "I'd love to see you try..."

Both of them froze as the felt simultaneous pressure on their necks and heads.

"Is Belladonna behind me, too?" Roman forced out.

Emerald nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Here's an idea..." He drawled in a strained voice. "We both put our weapons down _very_ slowly, and try not to piss her off again. Agreed?"

Emerald responded by slowly taking her gun away from his head, an action that Torchwick mirrored.

"I could have handled that, Ms. Belladonna," Cinder said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"This was faster," Blake replied, dismissing the two clones and allowing the thieves to sag in relief.

"Blakey!" Yang cried, dropping Weiss and Ruby and allowing them to actually breathe again before trying to tackle-hug Blake.

"Back off or I'll replace your shampoo again."

Yang scrambled to a halt, barely a foot away from the faunus. "Nooo!" She whined as she clutched at her scalp. "The last time you did that, it took me a week to get my natural color back!"

"Should have thought of that before you tried to attack Blake," Adam said, stepping forward. "I have half a mind to-"

He cut himself off and scowled indignantly as he glared down at the petite woman who had just stepped in his way. "Move out of my way, Neo." He stated firmly.

The three-tone-haired woman's only response was to let a small smile flit across her lips, her umbrella tapping on her shoulder.

Adam grit his teeth at the insubordination. "I told you to _move,_ Neopolitan."

Neo's smirk grew infinitesimally as she raised a finger and tilted it left and right, as though she were scolding a child.

The bull-Faunus's hand fell to Wilt's hilt. "I will _not_ ask a-"

"Heeey, hey hey hey... what's going on here?"

Neo's smirk evolved into an all-out cheshire grin as Adam realised the voice was coming from the side, instead of behind Neo, too late to stop a hand from plopping onto his head.

Adam's scowl deepened, but his hand refused to leave his weapon. "Your subordinate and I were having a... _discussion._ Nothing you need concern yourself with, General Xiao Long."

"Reeeaaally?" Yang casually drawled, her hand never leaving Adam's head. "Because it looked to me like you were threatening my lackey. And you wouldn't be stupid enough to do that, would you, _cow-_ boy?"

" _What_ did you just call me, hu-GARGH!" Adam's furious retort was cut off by the fingers on his head suddenly digging into his skull like a vice. His legs jerked as he was slowly lifted a few inches off the ground.

"Because if you _were_ stupid enough to do that..." Yang went on lightly, casually inspecting her free hand's fingernails. "Then that would make you a liability. And if you were a liability... well..."

Neo suddenly shattered into glass before walking back into Adam's view, grinning madly as she showed him the folded up rug she had on her shoulders.

"Yeah. So, _are_ you that stupid?" Adam gasped in pain when the pressure on his head slowly increased. " _Cow_ -boy?"

"N-no!" He grit out.

"Great!" Adam dropped to his knees the second he was released, clutching his skull as he tried to alleviate the pain. Meanwhile, Yang waved over her shoulder as she walked away. "You two play nice, now!"

Adam scowled up at the woman who was smiling above him. "I despise you..."

Neo smiled even wider and stuck her tongue out in response.

Cinder raised her eyebrow as she stared down at the Faunus from the very comfortable armchair she was ensconced in. "You do know she just did that in order to get a-?"

"I get the picture." Adam snarled.

"For the record, Yang, I'd appreciate it if you _didn't_ threaten to pulp my second-in-command's head." Blake noted idly.

"Duly noted!" Yang chirped. "Now, let's get this party started!"

 **-o-**

After the third request for an autograph Pyrrha Nikos was starting to despair of finding any table that wouldn't immediately venerate her for being the _'greatest Sanctum graduate in generations!'_ She'd have even preferred it if they knew her from just the damn cereal boxes…

Scanning the hall for another table with open spots, her eyes fell on an isolated mop of blond hair. Wasn't that the guy who had gotten seriously motion-sick on the plane ride over? He looked like he needed some company, and Pyrrha was more than willing to give him a shot.

"Hello," she said as she sat down next to him, internally bracing for recognition.

"Oh, hi..." He groaned, not looking up from where he was resting his head on the table. "You here to laugh at 'Vomit Boy', too?"

Though she kept her friendly smile up, inside Pyrrha was wincing. Of course he had been teased about that. "No, no, just trying to get away from the crowd. I never did get your name, by the way."

"Jaune Arc," he mumbled. Looking up, his eyes narrowed in a mix of recognition and confusion. "Huh, you look... kinda familiar…"

 _'Here it comes.'_ Pyrrha braced internally for the explosion. Which came in handy when a pink and orange missile rammed into her and attached itself to her arm.

"OH MY GOD YOU'RE THE CEREAL BOX LADY! EEE!" The missile, which she could now be identified as an orange-haired and pink-clad girl, squealed.

"Oh yeah!" Jaune snapped his fingers in recognition. " _That's_ where I know you from!"

"Uhh..." Pyrrha hesitated as she found her brain attempting to shift gears without a clutch. So it was to her considerable relief that the limpet she had acquired was soon pried off.

"Sorry about this, Ms. Nikos," Ren said sheepishly as he seated himself next to the bemused champion. "Nora sometimes has problems with the concept of 'personal space'. Congratulations on your fourth championship, by the way."

Pyrrha's eye twitched minutely, but nevertheless she managed to plaster a winning smile on her face while searching for another table to sit at. "Do you… want… an autograph?"

"Sure," Ren said. "Nora would love one. She _really_ likes Pumpkin Pete's. I'm _pretty_ certain that'd be all she'd eat if she could get away with it." His eyes shifted behind Pyrrha, prompting her to look back and see Jaune desperately trying to play keep-away with his box of cereal while Nora attempted to grab it. "He has _no_ idea how lucky he is to have all his limbs intact right now."

Pyrrha stared at the two silently for a moment before looking back at Ren. "So... how come you're not essentially worshipping the ground I walk on like everyone else here is?"

The martial artist shrugged indifferently. "So you're a good fighter. Lots of people are. Why that merits worship, I don't know."

Pyrrha sat there silently for a moment before replying. "Could I… hug you? Maybe? A lot?"

Ren's face turned uneasy. "You could, but I can't guarantee that Nora won't break your arms if you do. I mean, I can't guarantee what Nora will do on a good day, but... well, yeah."

Pyrrha looked over her shoulder at the hyperactive girl for a moment before coming to a decision. "I'll risk it." And with that she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him, hard.

In an instant, Nora went from obsessing over the cereal box to ferally growling at the young champion's back, fire blazing in her eyes.

Jaune thought fast and pointed to the weapon slung over her lower back. "H-hey, that's a cool looking weapon! W-what does it do?"

The fire dulled, replaced by an only slightly less disturbing manic gleam. "Oh, you want to know about Magnhild?" Grabbing the handle, Nora whipped out the grenade launcher and shoved it in Jaune's face. "It's a grenade launcher!" She the clicked a hidden trigger that allowed the weapon to unfold into its massive form, its head inches from Jaune's nose. "That turns into a hammer!"

Jaune let out a panicked whimper in response to the quarter-ton of metal that was hanging right in front of him.

He was saved from any further posturing from Nora by the PA system letting out an announcing ring.

 _"Attention. All first year students, please prep your weapons and report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. All first year students, please prepare and report to Beacon Cliff for initiation."_

"A-a cliff? Why a cliff?" Jaune stuttered.

 **-o-**

"I'm just saying, I think that this is all completely unnecessary. So a student delayed Torchwick long enough for Goodwitch to show up, so what. Do you know what this is going to do to my schedule for the next month?" Weiss griped.

"Oh, calm down, Weiss Queen. Just sit back and enjoy the show, okay?"

"Ssh, guys, the students are arriving!"

Views of the forest were provided via signals piggybacked over Ozpin's own camera network. A nice little program that Weiss had the SDC's cyber-espionage division cook up. Views of the cliffs, on the other hand, had to make do with lower-quality cameras provided by White Fang operatives. It was as close to Beacon as they could get with their own cameras, and now the investment was paying off.

"And to answer your question, Weiss..." Ruby spoke up, directing a glare at Torchwick. "We're doing this in order to determine just how much trouble Roman is in. If the rookie is strong enough, then he has an excuse for needing help. If he _isn't_..." Ruby's glare became downright frigid. "Then Torchwick has a _lot_ to answer for."

Torchwick swallowed heavily before catching sight of something on the screen. "Hey, that's him!" He jabbed a finger hastily. "Green clothes, pink streak in his hair!"

"Hmm..." Ruby's attention shifted from her underling to the rookie in question. Namely, she focused on the weapons hanging at his sides. "Twin SMG-hand-axe combo... mainly used for close-quarters-combat while providing long range firepower when need be. Kind of light, though..."

"You didn't see how that kid was fighting..." Roman grumbled. "Some kinda crazy kung-fu/karate stuff. He's more weapon than those little toys of his are."

"Looks like the rest of them aren't bad either." Blake noted, examining each of the prepared students in turn. "I'm seeing a _lot_ of potential. Rather impressive take this year."

Yang chuckled as she watched the old headmaster step forwards. "Old Ozzy hasn't changed his speech at all. And look at that one blond kid! Ten lien says he's not even going to survive landing."

Ruby and Blake both zeroed in on the student Yang had pointed out. "Not a gunsheathe, and I don't see any slots for dust cartridges either... I'm pretty sure that's just an ordinary sword and sheath combo." The red-head commented.

"Definitely not prepared for this situation," The faunus concurred. "Well, every class has its busts..."

"I'll take that action."

Everyone present stared at Weiss in shock.

"What?" The alabaster financial empress shrugged. "I've got Lien to burn. I win, I get some spare pocket money, I lose it goes to a friend."

"Remind me to never let you near any race tracks, Miss Schnee..." Cinder groaned as she kneaded the bridge of her nose.

On the screen, the catapults fired, sending the students out over the forest, the blond comically flailing his arms and screaming as he flew through the air.

 **-o-**

"I still don't think that's the sound a sloth makes."

Nora giggled, dropping down out of the tree canopy. "You're so silly, Ren. Of course that's not what a sloth sounds like! Anyone can imitate a sloth!" She sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"

"King Taijitu. I'm going to be cleaning that off of me for days," Ren lamented.

"Yeah, that stuff's always hard to get out," Nora nodded sagely. "So, let's go!" she exclaimed, turning in a seemingly-random direction.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Ren asked.

"Nope! Do you?"

"...I actually don't." He really didn't. "Lead the way, Nora," Ren replied wearily.

Time passed as they walked. Mostly, they saw trees. The occasional Beowolf or Ursa, which were all quickly dispatched. Until finally, a relatively low, grass-covered hill broke the monotony.

"Nora, see if you can get a better view from up there. Maybe you'll spot something," Ren said, pointing to the hill.

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Nora saluted, skipping off up the hill. The top was something of a disappointment; not quite high enough to get a good view. Nora, though, knew exactly how to fix that. Stepping on the head of her hammer, she pulled the trigger, detonating a grenade in order to send herself up high.

"Ooooh, pretty!" She cackled, looking around as she flew up before starting to descend. When she finally met the ground, she swung her hammer and slammed it into the ground in order to negate her momentum, forming a large crater in the earth around her.

"What'd you see?" Ren called up.

"I saw a birdy!"

 _"NORA!"_

"Aheh..." Nora scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Let me try again..." She hastily prepped Magnhild and launched herself up high.

 _This_ time was a bit different. Ren jerked in shock when the ground rumbled slightly, shaking beneath his feet. It shook _again_ when Nora landed, a bit more forcefully than before.

"I think I saw something! Let me check one more time to be sure!"

"Nora, _wait-!"_

A third explosion and a new set of quakes, this time _very_ violent, cracks and fissures erupting along the hill, forcing Ren to fight to remain upright. And when Nora landed again...

Silence. Nothing.

"I saw a clearing over that way!" Nora crowed, pointing her finger triumphantly. "It's really big, I think it's-!"

Without rhyme, reason or warning, the ground _exploded_ upwards, kicking up a titanic cloud of dust and debris and sending Nora flying. Miraculously, she landed by Ren's side and managed to spring to her feet.

The duo stared at the cloud in shock, trying to process what had just happened.

"Nora..." Ren breathed.

Suddenly, a pair of relatively small but _very_ high up eyes shone through the cloud.

"Run."

 **"BAROOOOH!"**

 **-o-**

Back at Beacon Cliff, a pair of elongated, lapine ears twitched slightly. The owner glanced around in confusion.

"Hey, did anyone else hear that?" Velvet Scarlatina asked the rest of her team.

The three humans looked at one another in confusion, but before any of them could respond...

"ooo **OOOH!"**

An echoing noise became apparent, coming from the depths of the Emerald Forest.

The largest of the trio dug a square of metal from a pouch at his side and unfolded it into a set of binoculars that he peered through.

After a second of searching, he froze before slowly looking at his teammates.

"We might have a problem..."

 **-o-**

Pyrrha had to admit, the Emerald Forest was quite beautiful up close. Majestic trees, enough undergrowth to not appear barren, and deep, loamy soil that filled the air with the scent of the earth. A flash of uncharacteristic grey in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

"Jaune, I think I've found something!" she called back to her companion.

"Cool, give me a second to catch up!" came the reply. A few seconds later, the bedraggled form of Jaune Arc burst out of a shrubbery, panting slightly. "So... what'd you find?"

"Look!" She pointed towards the grey area she had seen. Now that she was looking at it head on, she could see what appeared to be carved stone.

"I'm seeing some grey, I think?" Jaune said tentatively. "I'm pretty sure you've got better eyes than me, so if you think it's worth checking out..."

Pyrrha nodded. "I think they're old ruins. I can't really think of a better way to describe a temple in a forest, can you?"

Jaune shrugged. "Fair enough. Onwards!" He started to forge through the brush... before tripping on a root. "Uh... little help?"

Pyrrha giggled as she helped him to his feet. There was just something about his awkward honesty that was incredibly endearing. They made it to the clearing without further incident, and sure enough, there were the ruins. A stone slab set in the ground, another raised upright (probably part of an old wall), and several raised plinths with-

"Chess pieces?" Jaune wondered aloud. He stepped forward, poking one of them. "Huh. I was expecting something a little less… mundane."

Indeed, on the plinths stood a set of chess pieces, gold and black obsidian, all but one pair of pawns each. Several pairs were already gone, indicating that other teams had already passed through.

"It's probably a metaphor of some kind," Pyrrha guessed. "Perhaps what roles we choose for ourselves?"

"Eh, let's just grab a piece and not overthink it," Jaune replied, scanning the remaining pieces before grabbing the gold queen. Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at his choice.

"Why the queen?" she asked.

"Well, I just kinda thought that you're like the queen," Jaune admitted honestly. "You know, best piece on the board and all?"

Pyrrha was _really_ glad for the experience she had with maintaining her composure for press conferences. The absolute last thing she needed was to break into a luminescent blush. "Jaune, t-that's-!"

"GANGWAY!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIIIII-Ooooh, pretty castle!"

" _NORA!"_

"RIGHT! GOT THE KING! -IIIIIIIVES!"

Jaune and Pyrrha spared each other a confused look as a blur of orange, pink and green whipped past them, before a massive sound shook them out of it.

 **"BAROOOOO!"**

"Uhh..." Jaune blinked slowly. "What was-"

With the sound of splintering wood and tearing earth, the massive form of a Grimm straight out of legends and nightmares erupted from the treeline: a Goliath. A titanesque, multi-ton elephantine monstrosity that towered taller than anything living had any right to. The faded gray of its faceplate, tusks and miscellaneous spikes, as well as the plant life growing here and there on it, only served to accentuate the colossal creature's ancient age.

The monster flung back its head, rose its trunk high into the air and let loose another earth-rumbling bellow as it charged towards the pair, obliviating the forest beneath it as though the age-old trees were little more than twigs.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha breathed slowly, staring in horror as the behemoth barreled towards them.

"ALREADY RUNNING!" he threw over his shoulder.

Pyrrha bolted after him, sticking close behind and throwing the occasional worried glance over her shoulder. "Can you see them?!" she yelled over the din of shattered stone and splintered trees.

"Yeah, thank Remnant Nora wears all that pink!" Jaune yelled back. "Actually, I think we're catching up!"

That was a worrisome sign, considering the Goliath was slowly catching up to _them_. This sign was proven a reality when the figure in green lost his balance and fell over.

"REN!"

Pyrrha reached for the shield on her back. If she could push enough of her semblance into it-

Her train of thought derailed when she saw Jaune put on a burst of speed and skid into a crouch in front of Ren, shield held out and blue Aura flaring instinctively. Pyrrha made to reinforce Jaune, but her instincts screamed at her, and she instead threw herself to the side just in time to not get trampled by the Goliath, instead getting thrown further by the beast's slipstream.

Time seemed to slow as she watched the beast barrel down on the Jaune and Ren's prone form. Somewhere in her, she knew that if the beast made contact, the two would not survive.

 _'No!'_ "JAUNE!" A voice screamed. She later recognized it to be her own.

 _"REN!"_ Nora shrieked.

If time was slowed before, it ground to an absolute halt as the Goliath _heaved,_ launching itself up to balance on its hindlegs. Slowly, as it started to tilt forwards, Pyrrha saw just where its forelegs would land.

She could only imagine the devastation the impact would cause...

And she couldn't do anything about it.

"HRAAAGH!"

 **CRASH!**

 **"BAROOOOO!"**

Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, a _massive_ figure in tan armor, bearing an equally massive sword in his hands, impacted into the Goliath's forehead like a small meteorite before leaping back off it. Overbalanced from the transfer of kinetic energy, the Grimm toppled onto its back. The way it flailed its limbs would have been almost comical, if not for the devastation it caused in its pained throes and the roars of impotent rage it loosed.

These roars were accentuated when a barrage of high-caliber bullets fell from the sky like the wrath of god, slamming into its exposed underbelly, causing it to devolve to expressing sheer and utter _noises_ that spoke of a single action: **DESTROY.**

The four trainee hunters stared at the flailing Goliath numbly for a second before being broken from their thoughts by a trio of figures landing heavily around them.

"Uh, Coco? I think you just made it mad..." Velvet pointed out uneasily.

"Its bellows _are_ quite painfully loud," Fox noted idly.

Yatsuhashi landed near the rest of his team with a thump. "I barely scratched the plating, even with Fox's boost." He turned to his leader, his neutral expression broken by an uncharacteristically worried frown. "We might be in trouble here."

"Hmph." Coco adjusted her glasses menacingly. "No matter. It's a Grimm. We're hunters. The results are a foregone conclusion. Right?"

Velvet clenched her fists before nodding definitively. "Right."

"Hmph." Fox grunted in agreement.

Yatsuhashi nodded silently.

"Good," Coco nodded. "Let's see if we can't find any weak points."

"H-hey!" Jaune spoke up, scrambling to his feet and pulling Ren up with him. "Who the heck are you guys!?"

"We're Team CFVY, second-years." Coco responded flatly, not taking her eyes off the Goliath as it started to work its way on to its side. "I'm the leader, Coco. These are Velvet," She gestured at the rabbit-Faunus, who smiled sheepishly and waved.

"Hello."

"Fox." The dark-red haired kid with white eyes and gauntlets with blades extending up his arm.

"Hey."

"And Yatsuhashi." The giant teen with the massive blade and a five-layered sode on his left shoulder.

A silent nod.

"Sorry for interrupting the initiation, but... while Ozpin might allow trainees to tangle with higher-end Grimm like Deathstalkers and Nevermore..." Coco gestured at the monster before them. "Goliaths are another matter entirely. We were by the launchpads and I had the codes to activate and overclock them. We couldn't just let you face it alone."

"I hope you have a plan for that," Pyrrha stared at the Goliath nervously. "Because I can't think of a single way to take that thing down outside of a small army of Hunters."

"We'll go for its limbs; if we can cripple it, that expands our options tremendously." Coco nodded definitively. "Including, if need be, retreating."

"YEAH! WE'LL BREAK ITS LEGS!" Nora whooped... before almost collapsing, forcing her to lock her knees together to keep from falling over. "Or... not."

"Nora and I have been running from that thing for an hour straight." Ren groaned, leaning on Jaune for support. "It's a wonder that either of us is standing at all..."

"Fox." Coco ordered. He nodded, tapping Ren and Nora on their shoulders. The green-clad young man blinked in surprise for a second before pulling himself off of Jaune's shoulder and testing his once-aching muscles. "Well... this is impressive. Thanks."

"No prob-"

"WOO!"

Fox's reply was cut off by Nora jumping up and darting around energetically.

"THIS IS INCREDIBLE IT'S LIKE A SUGAR-RUSH AND CAFFEINE RUSH COMBINED AND IT FEELS LIKE SO SO SO GOOD AND _EEE!"_ Nora vibrated eagerly, her pupils dilated to the extreme.

Suddenly, four thumps echoed throughout the clearing as the Goliath lumbered back onto its feet, punctuating its rise with another air-shaking bellow.

"LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN!" Nora flipped Magnhild's head beneath her feet and snapped up a salute. **"WE'LL BREAK ITS LEGS!"** And with a click of the trigger, she launched herself at the Goliath at incredible speeds, Magnhild swinging in low arc to hit the leg with a meaty thump.

And nothing else.

Nora's pupils shrank back to normal as her aura-high died. "Uh-oh," she squeaked.

The Grimm's trunk came down like the hand of god with the intent of crushing her, only to be deflected by a snapkick from Velvet, who was suddenly in the air before Nora.

Upon landing, the two were immediately forced to frantically scramble away as the Grimm slammed a truck-sized foot on their landing spot, shaking the trees and sending the remaining birds flying. A tight spread of bullets from Coco's rotary cannon smacked into the leg around the knee joint, followed up by Ren and Fox dashing up the limb and attacking the same spot with their blades, once, twice, several dozen times, leaving a series of shallow wounds. The Goliath jerked its leg forwards, dislodging Ren and Fox but doing nothing for another round of bullets that stitched a circle into the joint, expanding it into a small but growing crater.

Nevertheless, the beast was incessant in its fury, breaking into a mad stampede towards the students. Everyone scattered in pairs to get away from the rather obvious charge. Then the Goliath unexpectedly wheeled on its feet with a nigh unnatural agility that caught everyone off guard as it raked its trunk through the ground.

Jaune and Velvet, while out of the line of the trunk, were nevertheless sprayed with chunks of rock and soil torn up by its passage. Thankfully, Jaune's aura took the brunt of the damage, but both were sent tumbling into the tree line with a sizable collection of bruises and small cuts.

Pyrrha and Coco, meanwhile, found themselves right in the path of the trunk. Thinking fast, Pyrrha activated her Semblance and used Coco's rotary cannon as the anchor for a magnetic shove that sent the two flying in opposite directions.

"Hey!" Nora yelled as the Goliath wound up its trunk for another strike, shooting a salvo of grenades at the beast's face. "COME AND GET ME YOU BIG FAT- _YEEK!"_ The valkyrie was forced to dodge out of the way as one of the creature's legs crushed where she'd been moments earlier. "Owie..." Nora winced, rubbing the back of her head. "I thought that Grimm only attacked _after_ you taunted them..."

"Young Grimm, perhaps," Yatsuhashi rumbled as he marched over and helped her to her feet. "This one is old. Very old. It's likely more intelligent than any Grimm that you or I have ever faced before."

"So, it's really big, really fast, _and_ really smart? That's just not fair!" Nora complained.

"'Fairness' has never been a quality the Grimm have possessed in any abundance." Fox snorted as he and Ren dropped down from the treeline.

"Then we'll simply have to find a way to win anyways." Pyrrha stated definitively as she and Coco jogged to meet the group, Coco firing a continuous volley of hellfire at the Goliath.

"Whatever you have in mind, Pyrrha, better do it fast. That thing's not going to let us plan for very long," Coco grit out.

"Right. Fox, Coco told me you can boost allies beyond their normal abilities, besides restore them to fighting condition," Pyrrha said. He nodded in affirmation. "Good. I need you to boost my Semblance as much as you can."

Fox nodded uneasily, a weary grimace on his face. "If we do this, I won't be able to boost you again during this fight."

"If this works you won't need to," Pyrrha retorted. The Goliath let out another roar as it charged them, the steady whine of Coco's rotary cannon and the thumps of Nora's grenade launcher doing little to impede it. "Now do it!"

Fox grabbed Pyrrha's shoulder, and she felt the power flow, course through her body. Nora's burst of hyperactivity was suddenly a lot more understandable, as though every part of her body was electrified. She hefted her spear at the Goliath's eye, her free arm not necessary for aiming due to the Goliath's headlong charge, and her Semblance lending even more power to the attack. Pyrrha's hand didn't move; the spear simply shot from her hand with a crack and a roar of displaced air.

Jaune and Velvet, pulling themselves out of the shrubbery where they had landed, got the best view, though given all they could see was a split-second streak of fire, that wasn't saying much. It also meant they watched in horror as the Goliath jerked its head to the side with the unnatural speed it possessed, forcing the spear to miss its mark and instead tear into the Goliath's tusk, punching clean through before glancing harmlessly off the faceplate.

"No!" Pyrrha cried. It was only thanks to the residual aura remaining from the burst that she was able to return her lance to her hand and remain standing.

"Damn it..." Coco cursed under her breath, allowing her barrage to slack off.

It didn't matter either way. The Goliath was all but _strolling_ towards them by this point, languid in its pace massive, uncaring, ineffable pace. It didn't charge. It had no reason to. It had taken their best and had lost nothing more than a few chunks of measly flesh.

It. Had. Won.

This wasn't a fight for it anymore. This was its _meal._

"We… we can't win… it's completely invulnerable… nothing we have can hurt it..." Velvet breathed, shaking as she slumped to her knees.

"Nothing wehave…" Jaune repeated slowly, his eyes drifting over the colossus.

Suddenly, he focused on the gash in its tusk, the cracks spider-webbing away from the impact.

"Nothing... _we_ have!" Jaune exclaimed. "Velvet that's it!"

The Faunus looked at the human in confusion. "Wha-?"

"Come on, Velvet! Nothing _we_ have can hurt it, but-"

"Oh! Oh, th-that's brilliant!" Velvet's face lit up with realization. "I- alright, you have a plan?"

"I- I think I have _something._ Can you snap that thing's tusk off?" Jaune asked.

Velvet nodded determinedly. "I-I can try. And if I can't, Yatsuhashi should be able to do it."

"Good..." Jaune swallowed heavily. "Keep it distracted, I'll go and tell everyone the plan."

Velvet nodded and crouched down as she prepared to leap. "Good luck."

"You too!" Jaune replied as he scrambled through the brush.

Velvet took a few calming breaths before pumping her legs and leaping towards the Goliath, soaring through the air for a few moments before landing on the tusk. She stared at the statuesque visage of the Goliath, and nearly froze when the eye nearest her swiveled no doubt to focus on her. Luckily, her reflexes were honed enough to save her from the trunk that rammed into the spot she'd been standing moments before. Velvet ricocheted off of its faceplate and bounced as high as she could go, twisting around to observe the trunk as it followed her upwards. The instant it was within inches of her, she twisted _again,_ planting her feet against the trunk and dashing down its length before leaping anew and delivering a _devastating_ ax-kick to the tusk, deepening the cracks so that they ran almost halfway through the enlarged tooth.

Velvet didn't remain there for even a second, kicking off as hard as she could to leap away from the Goliath as it brought its trunk back down after her, completing her job and snapping the tusk clean off.

 **"BAROOOOH!"**

The Goliath tossed its head and stomped furiously in agony as it tried to come to terms with the loss of one of its most notable features, kicking the severed fang away as a result.

Back on the ground, Jaune let out a whoop of exhilarated joy as the massive shard of ivory crashed to the ground. "Alright, she did it!"

"Obviously." Coco nodded confidently before levelling a glare at Jaune. "Did you think she couldn't?"

"No-I-I-I mean t-that I-!" Jaune sputtered and withered under the senior Huntress's cold gaze.

Coco stared at him silently for a moment before snapping her gaze to Yatsuhashi. "Yatsuhashi. Take Nora and get the tusk ready."

"Righty-o, cool boss lady!"

"On it."

The giant and grenadier ran towards where the discarded tusk had landed.

"Fox, Ren, climb it and go for its eyes. Blind it."

The speedier duo gave her silent nods of confirmation before streaking towards the Goliath.

Coco looked over her shoulder at Pyrrha. "Pyrrha-!" She was forced to bite off a curse when the champion nearly fell to her knees, solely supported by Miló. "Never mind. I'll bait it myself. Jaune!"

"Y-yeah?"

"Get ready for anything."

"Got it..."

The speed at which Nora and Yatsuhashi returned with the titanic tusk supported on their shoulders was a true testament to their strength. With a massive heave,Yatsuhashi hefted the tusk up onto his shoulder, the point parallel with the ground and the flat, fractured portion pointing straight up.

With a swift twirl and detonation of Magnhild, Nora launched herself up high and landed on the cracked end. "We're rea~dy~!"

Meanwhile, Ren and Fox clambered up the Goliath's legs, leaping from bone spur to bone spur before landing on the bases of its tusks. The dual speedsters glanced at one another before nodding definitively. As one, they leapt and dashed up along the Goliath's faceplate. Before the Grimm could react, the two slashed their blades through its eyes and then jumped off it to safety.

 ** _"BAAAROOOOOOH!"_**

If the Goliath had been furious before, this final attack had driven it mad with pure outrage, causing it to lash out and attempt to flatten everything around it in its blind, unrepentant fury.

Suddenly, the retort of Coco's cannon and the impact of its shells managed to pierce through the Grimm's agony and give it a target for its wrath. Without further ado, the archaic titan set off on a final, desperate charge, the impact of its anger translating into a small earthquake.

The Hunters and Huntresses tensed as the Grimm approached, closer and closer.

One hundred yards.

Fifty yards.

Twenty-five yards.

"NOW!" Jaune called out.

Grinning like a lunatic, Nora swung Magnhild over her head and into the fractured base of the tusk with as much force as she could. Yatsuhashi grunted as the tusk rotated in his grip, it's point stabbing upwards...

...and into the throat of the Goliath.

 **"** ** _BAROOOOH_** **!"**

The Goliath roared and jerked... but it pressed onwards.

"GAGH!" Yatsuhashi grit out, his feet digging into the soil as he was forcefully slid backwards, unable to find any traction with which to complete the deed.

Before he could even think about what he was doing, Jaune ran up behind the giant teen and pressed himself against him, throwing his weight against the might of the Goliath.

Without warning, there was a flash of blue light...

 **"** ** _BAAAAROOOOOOOH_** **!"**

And the Goliath let off a final, titanic dying scream of rage and agony as the tusk rammed itself straight _through_ the Goliath's throat, even forcing it up off its forelegs.

It flailed and jerked minutely for a few instants... before finally falling still.

After a second, Yatsuhashi dropped the tusk, allowing it to unceremoniously drop to the ground.

The Hunters and Huntresses stared at the carcass in numb shock, absorbing the scale of what they had just accomplished.

Finally...

"Soooo..." Jaune asked slowly. "Does... this mean we passed?"

 **-o-**

Silence reigned in Yang's room as the assembled individuals stared at the screens.

No one dared say... anything. Even a vindicated Roman was unwilling to speak. The tension was unbelievably high, ready to snap at the drop of a hat.

Finally, Emerald decided to bite the bullet. "Sooo..." She breathed.

 **CRACK!**

Most flinched as the sound of snapping wood permeated the air.

The source wasn't hard to discern.

Slowly but surely, the armrests of the nigh throne-like armchair Yang was slouching in splintered and disintegrated beneath her fingers, smoke starting to waft from beneath her as her hair glowed brighter and brighter and her eyes became redder and redder.

She wasn't the only one having an adverse reaction.

Blake was slumped forwards with her legs spread and her forearms resting on her thighs. Adam shied away from her in an effort to avoid the pale shades that sprang up around her and disappeared in mere instants, like the shadows of a fire.

Weiss was hunched over, her hands tented in front of her face and her elbows resting on Myrtenaster's hilt as she kept it stabbed into the ground before her. Cinder and Emerald were forced to evacuate the couch they were sharing with her due to the frost that was slowly creeping away from her.

Finally, Ruby had her arms crossed over her chest and one leg folded over the other, slowly kicking up and down. Roman stared at her with naked, wide-eyed fear as about a dozen or two rose petals slowly drifted about her.

"Leave us." The red-clad woman intoned darkly.

Silence reigned as none dared to move.

 _"Now."_ Blake growled under her breath.

The subordinates beat a hasty, nigh panicked retreat from the room, slamming the door shut behind them.

Silence anew.

Then...

"We have..." Yang grit out. "A _problem."_

"A Goliath." Weiss hissed. "Eight trainee hunters actually managed to kill an _elder_ Goliath. That is... not possible."

"Clearly it is." Blake spat. "They managed to do it on their own, without any fatalities whatsoever."

"We've been careless." Ruby stated flatly. "We've let Beacon grow too strong. Failed to pay enough attention to Ozpin."

"Could we have prevented this if we knew about it?" Weiss asked.

"Probably..." Yang mused. "I should have tried setting up an academy of my own, training my own recruits. Be a pain in the ass, but still..."

"Enough lamenting over mistakes we can't take back." Blake cut in. "How do we move forward from here?"

"Those trainees still have potential in them. Maybe we- Yang and I, that is- can attempt to recruit them." Weiss suggested. "Blake, could you try and turn the Faunus? Velvet, was it?"

Blake was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "No. I... I think I know her. Call it a hunch, but I don't think that I could recruit her if I wanted to."

"Leave it to me, then." Yang shrugged. "Whoever Weiss can't hire, I'll recruit and vice-versa."

"If they become a clear threat to our plans, under most all circumstances, they die." Ruby declared with finality. "Agreed?"

"Of course."

"Agreed."

"No duh."

"Good." Ruby nodded. "We'll need to be more careful in the future. I suggest that we infiltrate Beacon at the earliest opportunity."

"The Vytal Festival?" Weiss proposed.

"Multiple kingdoms, my guys'll definitely be on scene." Yang mused.

"Faunus will surely gather as well." Blake added.

"Works for me." Ruby concurred. "Now, if that's everything?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Then I guess we're done here. Have safe trips home, girls, and good luck."

"And to you as well, Ruby."

"Until next time."

"See ya 'round, sis."

And with that, the Strategos departed.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **AN: I'm going to be in San Francisco (and thus away from my computer) all day tomorrow. So, you get a present: Chapter 3 a day early! Isn't that grand?**

"It was just a short mission a little ways away from home."

"A week-long hike through Grimm-infested wilderness!"

"The trip there wasn't all that eventful."

"Beowulves as large as Bullheads!"

"Only one or two."

"Two _dozen!"_

"Finally, we got to a small, out-of-the-way farming village."

"A White Fang outpost!"

"They weren't _that_ dangerous."

"One of them had a huge Chain-Axe!"

"We managed to incapacitate a few and get out unscathed."

"A dozen broken bones! And that was just on him!"

Ren rolled his eyes at Nora's overenthusiastic antics. "It was a rather extraordinary assignment."

"We did it all the time back at Signal!" Nora squealed eagerly.

Silence reigned as Jaune and Pyrrha stared at the duo in bald, open-mouthed shock.

They were snapped out of their stupor by a slow, almost bored clap.

"Well, well, looks like we've got some badasses here," Coco drawled from right across the table, slowly clapping at the story. "So, did you ever have to clear out a terrorist cell with the Dust Devils?"

To Coco's left, Yatsuhashi and Fox were nodding with different amounts of respect, while to her right, Velvet seemed surprisingly subdued, though there was a slight amount of awe in her eyes.

"Yes!" Nora exclaimed before reconsidering. "Well, no, it was a big pack of Grimm, but it was still the best mission we ever had! General Xiao Long was there, and she was so. Awesome. She was all like BAM! BAM BAM! WHA-BAM!" Nora squealed, shadow-boxing at some unseen target before thumping her fist down on the table, knocking the dishes about an inch into the air. She then proceeded to all but melt onto the table, giggling as she pressed her hands against her cheeks."Oh, I wish I could go on a mission with her again! I _need_ to get her autograph!"

Velvet chuckled at the hammer-wielding Huntress's antics as she grabbed her glass. However, in picking it up, she found it to be empty. She sighed sadly as she picked up her tray. "I'll be right back. I need to get some more milk," she declared, standing and making her way to the dispenser at the far side of the cafeteria.

Coco spared her teammate a glance before shrugging and refocusing on Team JNPR. "Well, it sounds like you had a bit of an easier time than we did. A lot of the Dust Devils' ground troops seem to have a complex about Hunters. They don't quite notice us whenever it comes to concepts like 'friendly fire'." She shrugged in a devil-may-care manner. "Of course, given their propensity for collateral damage, that could just be their SOP."

A glove-clad hand nervously rose into the air.

Coco cast the hand's owner a cool glance over her glasses. "Yes, Mister Arc?"

"Uh..." Jaune rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "What's an SOP?"

This question drew a variety of reactions from the students: Coco and Yatsuhashi cocked their eyebrows at him, Fox scoffed and rolled his eyes, Nora broke down into a renewed fit of giggles, and Ren and Pyrrha slapped their hands to their faces with tired groans, though his was vastly more exasperated than hers.

"Oh _Jaune..."_ she sighed.

Jaune blushed iridescently as he tried to sink into his seat.

Ultimately, though, Coco rolled her eyes and looked away as she started to casually observe the dining hall. "SOP is a military acronym that stands for-" Suddenly, she cut herself off as she froze in place, staring at something further down the hall.

"What. The. Hell." She ground out, her voice absolutely frigid.

Jaune blinked in confusion. "But wouldn't that spell-GAH!" He yelped when the other team leader suddenly grabbed his chin and forced his head to turn. "What are you-!" He instantly fell silent when he saw what she was looking at.

Yatsuhashi and Team JNPR followed their gazes and gaped in shock and disbelief.

About halfway down the row, a male student with an orange crew cut and a full set of plate armor had accosted Velvet and was pulling on her ears as she bit her lip and tried to tug her way out of his grip. The student was shaking in obvious mirth, a feeling that was imitated by two of his teammates, although the third seemed to be panicked by the situation.

"I'm going to guess that whatever we're all looking, it isn't a good thing?" Fox asked flatly.

"It would appear that Cardin Winchester thinks that it's funny to mess with a faunus by antagonizing them and doing things like, say... pulling on their ears." Ren answered evenly.

"Ah." Fox nodded sharply. "I see." He was silent for a moment before calmly standing up and cracking his neck back and forth. "Shall we beat him black and blue?"

"I've got a better idea!" Nora snarled as she leapt onto the table, cracking every joint in her hands as she slammed her fists together. " _Let's break his legs!"_

"I was thinking along the lines of something more permanent. Let's start with his spine and work our way up to his face." Coco intoned darkly as she stood, followed closely by Yatsuhashi and the rest of Team JNPR.

Students parted before the teams like Grimm-flesh around a hunter's blade as they passed, whispers following in their wake.

 _"Is that them?"_

 _"Can't believe they actually did it!"_

 _"How old d'you think that Goliath was?"_

 _"Badasses, every one of them."_

 _"Fifteen lien on Cardin making it for all of one minute."_

 _"Twenty on thirty seconds."_

However, before they could get any closer, one of Cardin's teammates, the one who'd been looking like he was about to piss his pants, started in terror and frantically hissed something into Cardin's ear.

The bully's face flashed with fear for a moment until he schooled his expression and let go of Velvet's ears, shooting her a final sneer. "You got lucky, you little-!"

 ** _CRACK!_**

The sound of splintering wood and stone filled the air as the onlookers fell silent, staring at the scene in shock. Velvet's chest heaved violently as she stared down at the remains of the table she had just axe-kicked into oblivion, her face a twisted mask of rage and hatred. Cardin, on the other hand, was frozen as he accounted for the jetstream of air that had passed within half a foot of his skull.

The silence stretched on for an interminable moment before Velvet, still panting, wrenched her foot out of the wooden wreckage and stormed past the shell-shocked bullies without so much as a glance.

"Damn it, Velvet..." Coco breathed to herself as she strode after her teammate without so much as a second thought.

There was another moment of silence before Cardin let out a loud snort. "Well! That was unpleasant. I guess you really can't expect anything but violence from those ani-"

Cardin froze mid-rant when a pair of slender arms tenderly slid around his neck. He tried to pry them off, but panicked when he found that they were practically immovable.

 _"Heeeeey..."_ An airy feminine voice breathed into his ear.

Ren patted Cardin on his shoulder as he passed him by, focusing intently on the teammate Yatsuhashi was holding in place with a glare from directly above, while Fox, Pyrrha and a somewhat galvanized Jaune circled around the other two. "I almost pity you. _Almost._ Nora?"

 _"Yeeees?"_

"Have fun."

 _"Yaaaaay!"_

That day, history was made as Cardin's voice reached octaves once thought unattainable by a male human's voice.

 **~o~**

Coco sighed as followed the trail of footprints sunk into the hall's concrete floor. It made it easy to find her teammate, but it always made Glynda upset, even when she let them off with a warning like she usually did.

The senior team leader frowned. Was it just her, or were the prints... _deeper_ than usual? Well, that didn't bode well for finding anything intact at the end of the trail.

Finally, the trail of footprints ended at an open door to one of the training fields in the courtyard, one that featured a dozen or so wood-and-cloth dummies shaped like Beowulves for the students to practice on.

Or rather, Coco noted idly as she stepped through a field of debris, it _had_ featured a dozen dummies.

She could see her teammate in the distance quite literally beating the stuffing out of one of the training dummies, cotton and wood splinters flying with every blow. The shattered corpses of the dummy's brethren lay scattered in hundreds of pieces throughout the courtyard, one even embedded a full foot in one of the stone outer walls.

Coco was silent for a full minute as she watched Velvet repeatedly batter the unfortunate object into a wall over and over again, even going so far as to stamp on the larger chunks of wood that remained when it ultimately disintegrated.

Finally, she spoke up as Velvet took a moment to catch her breath.

"You're _really_ chewing through all the credit I have with my shoe-stores, you know that, right?" she asked neutrally.

Velvet jerked slightly at the unexpected voice, but continued to stare at the wreckage she'd wrought. "I can buy my own shoes..." She muttered darkly.

"Not according to the fashion disasters you had the gall to call footwear you bought the last time I let you shop unsupervised." Coco sniffed.

Velvet didn't respond; instead, she stomped over to the dummy embedded in the wall, grabbed it by the faux-leg, and and pulled. It didn't budge, so she made to brace a leg against the wall...

And was promptly halted by Coco gently but firmly grabbing her elbow. Even without looking, Velvet could tell that her leader was wearing that same unreadable-yet-full-of-emotion look she always gave her around this time.

Velvet growled with barely restrained rage as she let go of the leg. "Do you know what Cardin's teammate told him?" She didn't wait for a response. "He said that Cardin shouldn't mess with me, because if he did the White Fang would..." Velvet's hands clenched into fists and her body began to shake. "Would..."

Almost instantly, she was spun around and engulfed in a firm, secure hug.

Coco rubbed Velvet's back slowly while her friend desperately clutched at her own back like a lifeline, the other girl's fingers clawing into her blazer furiously.

"I know you hate it, but that doesn't mean he was wrong." Coco stated softly.

Velvet bit out a terse snort as she glared over Coco's shoulder. "That doesn't make it _right."_

Coco sighed heavily but chose not to respond, unwilling to restart the only recently-dead argument.

The sound of the bells signalling the start of classes made it a moot point, anyway.

"We'd better get to classes, Velvet," Coco said, reluctantly pulling out of the hug. "But tomorrow, we'll spend some time just unwinding and relaxing, alright?"

Velvet let out an unladylike snort. "I seriously doubt it'll work..."

 **~o~**

"Still doubt you'll be able to enjoy yourself?" Coco asked calmly as she sipped the steaming cup of overpriced coffee in her hands.

"Shut up..." Velvet giggled ecstatically around the chocolate mousse cake she was nibbling. "You fight dirty!" She moaned, any ire in her voice offset by her obvious bliss.

"Oh man, this stuff is delicious!" Nora squealed as she swallowed sugar-coated donut after donut from the relatively massive bag she was toting. "Sure it cost an arm and a leg and another arm and a kidney, but it was _worth it!"_

"It is very good cake," Pyrrha said, taking a prim bite of her lemon cake before adopting a worried expression. "But..." She cast an uneasy look over her shoulder. "Shouldn't we have gotten some for the guys?"

"Nah, we're good, don't need any of that delicious, _mouth-watering_ cake you're eating in front of us," Fox replied, his voice thick with scorn and sarcasm, which was no doubt aggravated by the half-dozen bags bearing varying emblems that were scattered around the chair he was slouched in.

The two teams were seated at a large table on the outdoor patio of L'Arbre D'argent, one of Vale's premiere restaurants. The food was top-notch, using the best chefs and the finest ingredients to create a selection that matched anything in the Four Kingdoms. The decor was tasteful and homely, with wrought iron chairs and tables, and a very nice old Atlas-style wallpaper on the walls, and unobtrusive light fixtures that made the light seem almost sourceless. The service was impeccable, with short wait times and extremely polite waiters. And it was just casual enough that you didn't have to dress up and book it a month in advance, at least during the lunch hour.

It was also, unsurprisingly, fantastically expensive, bordering on the obscene.

"I mean," Fox went on sardonically, " _Sure_ , we would have _appreciated_ it if you'd offered to buy us anything with that bottomless pit of money you call a bank account, but nah, we're _totally_ fine. Isn't that right guys?"

Ren and Yatsuhashi shared a glance at each other, then shrugged slightly. "We're fine. We'll order something on our own. Who needs more than three digits in their bank accounts anyways?" Ren stated flatly, Yatsuhashi nodding in agreement.

"Eh, I don't need to eat anything. My wallet is safe thanks to my stomach of steel," Jaune said flippantly as he pounded his chestplate... only for his stomach to audibly growl, prompting him to sigh, hanging his head in embarrassment. "Et tu, bodily functions?"

That prompted another round of giggles from Nora and Velvet. Pyrrha gave him a pitying look before reaching for her scroll. "I can get you something if you want, Jaune. I have a lot of money saved up, it's not a problem."

"Eh, why bother?" Coco replied, condescension practically dripping from her tone. "Feeding them food above their station? All that will do is make the poor dears think they're _people_. Get their hopes up and all that. And that's just cruel."

Silence fell over the group as Team JNPR stared at Coco with varying amounts of stunned horror as she took a calm sip from her coffee.

The tension shattered like glass when Velvet let a snort slip out and and Pyrrha caught sight of the smirk Coco was hiding behind her drink.

"Oh thank heavens..." Pyrrha breathed as she sagged in her seat, her entire team letting out a collective sigh of relief as Team CFVY broke into laughter.

 _"Please_ don't do that again, Coco." Jaune pleaded.

"Seriously. It's _disturbing_ how convincing you sounded." Ren grumbled.

"Why else do you think she does it?!" Velvet gasped out between peals of laughter.

"In any case," Pyrrha said as the laughter began to subside. "I really should get the boys something to eat." She then flashed them a coy smile. "We wouldn't want them collapsing under the weight of our purchases from hunger, would we?"

While the guys gave a unified groan of dismay, Pyrrha scanned the interior of the restaurant, spotted a free waiter, and began slowly waving her hand to flag him down. It took a few seconds, but she managed to get the waiter's attention, and he began to make his way over to their table.

Until he fully took in the group. For all of a second, his face twisted into an ugly grimace, as if he had smelled something terrible; then his face turned white, his eyes widening to their fullest extent and his mouth silently working up and down. As quick as the expression came it left, leaving the waiter swallowing in an attempt to compose himself.

"Ah, h-how can I help you, ma'am?" he said to Pyrrha once he reached their table. Though his face was composed, he couldn't hide his twitching fingers or the nervous sweat building on his brow.

Before Pyrrha could respond, the tortured scream of metal being crushed rang out from the girls' end of the table. All heads turned to Velvet, and the crumpled section of the iron table under her fingers. Her eyes bore into the waiter, full of fury and loathing, and he lost all semblance of composure. His attempt to escape only made him fall on his ass as his mouth tried to form words but instead merely did a very good impression of a fish out of water.

Abruptly, Velvet stood up, her eyes still boring into the waiter. "I lost my appetite," she said flatly. "I'll see you guys later." She turned around and left the restaurant, her eyes never making contact with the rest of the group.

"Velvet, wait!" Coco cried out. She made to go after her teammate, but waited just long enough to throw an icy glare at the cowering waiter, as well as one last parting shot. "You are _very_ lucky that this restaurant's legal team is slightly larger than my family's. If it weren't, I would _own_ you." And with that, she chased after her teammate in as dignified a manner as she could manage.

Yatsuhashi and Fox exchanged a silent glance before standing from their table with hasty goodbyes and went after their teammates.

Team JNPR stared after their older counterparts in shock.

"Uh..." Jaune breathed dumbly. "What just happened?"

"Hmm... " Nora hummed to herself in uncharacteristic thoughtfulness before returning to her usual manic grin. "I have no idea!"

"What is going on here?

Team JNPR turned to see an older man, wearing the same uniform as the waiters, but with the addition of a small badge that marked him as a manager.

"Are you folks having any problems here?" he asked, his eyes falling suspiciously on the still sitting waiter. "And Simmons, get up, you look completely undignified."

The newly named Simmons hastily scrambled to his feet. "Sir, I-"

"Stuff it, I want to hear it from the customers, not you," he said, cutting him off.

"Well, all he did was look towards us and suddenly he went all nervous," Jaune said uncertainly.

"Actually, I think he was looking towards Velvet," Pyrrha corrected. At the manager's questioning look, she elaborated. "One of our friends. She's a faunus."

The manager's expression immediately hardened. "I see."

Ren narrowed his eyes at the man. "Is that a problem."

The manager nodded solemnly. "Yes, but not for you or your friends. _Simmons_ , on the other hand." He shot an acidic glare at the pale waiter. "Well... he'll be meeting me in my office after work. After that? Well... suffice to say that he'll be incredibly lucky to keep his job. _Do I make myself clear?"_

The waiter snapped into a shaky salute. "C-c-crystal, sir!"

Nodding, the manager turned and reentered the restaurant, Simmons trailing reluctantly behind.

"Ah, excuse me!" Pyrrha called out to the manager. "If it isn't too much trouble, could you send a waiter to our table? We still want to order something."

"I'll do that!" he called back. There was the sound of muffled conversation, and another waiter walked up to their table.

"What can I get for you, ma'am?" he said.

"Well to start with, why don't we order…"

 **~o~**

For the second time in as many days, Coco found herself following a trail of dainty footprints punched into solid concrete.

 _Ugh, what a way to start a new year_ , she grumbled to herself. The sound of a loud crash echoed from ahead. _Please, be beating up on some_ thing _and not some_ body.

Turning a corner into a rather dingy alleyway, Coco saw Velvet repeatedly ramming her foot into a helpless dumpster, grumbling something inaudible under her breath. The garbage bin already looked worse for the wear, with multiple holes punched in the metal. Luckily, all the garbage seemed to be bagged, so none of it was spilling out of the holes. One less thing she'd need to have the family lawyers cover.

Of course, that still left the problem of calming down her pissed-off teammate. "Uh, Velvet," she tried tentatively.

"Don't even start, Coco!" The faunus all but snarled as she continued her assault. "I am sick of it! All of it! Every last bit of it! Sick, sick, _sick!"_ She punctuated the last word with a particularly violent axe-kick.

Coco winced as the dumpster cracked straight down the middle. _'And that's a full digit off my allowance...'_ She swallowed heavily before speaking. "I-I realize that waiter was a racist bastard, but-!"

 _"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM AND YOU KNOW IT!"_ Velvet shrieked, shoving her finger in her teammate's face. "I can handle bigotry and racism, I've been dealing with it my entire life! _That_ doesn't matter!"

Velvet started to pace up and down the alley like a caged tiger, yanking on her ears in frustration. "But the damn _Fang_... because of those, those monsters... people _fear_ us! They're absolutely, legitimately _terrified_ of faunus, of making any kind of slight that they could be punished for!"

"How could that _possibly_ be a bad thing!?" Coco demanded.

" _Because you're my friend!"_ Velvet exclaimed in frustration. "Because I want to _be_ friends with humans! Because I don't want to be _feared!_ And besides, it never works, at least not long-term! That sort of strategy is the reason the White Fang even _exists!_ "

Coco opened her mouth to refute her friend, to try and steer her away from the dark thoughts... then thought twice. "Alright then... What do you plan to do about it?" she pressed. "Or rather, what _can_ you do about it?"

Velvet paused in her rage, seeming to struggle with the words. "I- They weren't always like this. They were peaceful, just held nonviolent protests. But..." She bit her lip, her hands clenching into fists at her side. "Something happened. Changed them. Made them... what they are."

Velvet faced her friend, conviction written all over her face. "I want to find out why they changed, to find out why they're doing what they do now. And then..." She lashed out another kick against one of the halves of the dumpster. "Stop them." She raised her foot again. _"Permanently."_

However, before she could move, Velvet squeaked in surprise as Coco swept her up in a hug. "Uh, Coco, what are you-"

"Ssh," Coco said, slowly running a hand up and down Velvet's arm. "Do you know how frustrating it's been, watching you get like this and being unable to do anything about it?" She tightened her grip. "Well, now I can do something about it. This plan of yours… I'm supporting you every step of the way."

"As will we," came a rumbling baritone from behind them.

Coco and Velvet whirled around to see Yatsuhashi and Fox standing at the entrance to the alley. "Uh, how long have you guys been there?" Velvet nervously said.

"Since about when you started yelling about fear and the White Fang," Fox replied, prompting Velvet to blush. "We didn't speak up then because you two were obviously having a moment and we didn't want to ruin it. Plus, come on." He held his hand up and shook his scroll. "Blackmail. _Duh._ I'm fairly certain that even if the video sucks, the audio oughta be worth- _whoa!"_ He barely managed to dodge Coco's folded weapon as it whiffed over his head.

"Wait, if you arrived when I was, uh, ranting about the White Fang," Velvet said nervously, Coco and Fox pausing in their game of tag. "Then you, uh, heard about my plan." Velvet tensed, waiting for a response.

"If you can even _call_ it a plan." Fox snorted. "It's barely even a concept at this point. It's stupid, it's suicidal, and dare I say it, _hare-!"_

Yatsuhashi cleared his throat conspicuously.

Fox glanced over his shoulder before sighing. "At the risk of suicide by continuing, I'll wisely shut up. But yeah, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm in."

Velvet beamed, looking expectantly at Yatsuhashi.

The giant of a man gave her a silent look that could best be interpreted as 'are you serious right now?'

"Of course. I'm surprised you need to ask," he rumbled.

Velvet's smile grew even wider, and she started dancing in place. "Alright! Operation Expose the White Fang and Take Them Down is a go!"

"And how, exactly, do you plan to do that again?" Coco interjected. Velvet froze mid-step for second, before she started shaking and sent a pleading look in her leader's direction. Coco maintained her stony facade for a moment before cracking a smile. "Oh, I can't resist that face," Coco laughed, slapping her hand over Velvet's shoulder and leading her out of the alleyway, Fox and Yatsuhashi trailing behind. "C'mon, let's get back to the dorm so we can start brainstorming."

As they headed towards the airship docks, Fox dug his scroll out of his pocket.

 **~o~**

"I see... alright, got it. I hope she feels better. See you later then." Pyrrha sighed sadly as she hung up her scroll. "That was Fox. Apparently they decided to head back to Beacon. Coco's sending some people to pick up their stuff and ours, so we don't need to worry about that. They'll also pick up their ammunition on the way back."

"Waaaait, ammo?" Nora asked suspiciously. "Where are they gonna get ammo? We've been looking for half an hour and we haven't found any! What's with all the stores today?"

"They'll probably get it at the Vale PD commissary," Ren replied. "It's where most students go to stock up when they aren't at the academy."

"Then why are we in Vale on an 'ammo run'?" Nora air-quoted.

"Because it was the only reason Beacon would give us a day off from classes," Pyrrha provided with a sigh. "I was a bit uneasy with the idea of playing hooky, but Coco said that everyone does it and that the faculty is fully aware of what really goes on during these 'ammo runs'. So long as we don't abuse the privilege and actually have some Dust when we come back, we'll be fine."

"Call me crazy, but I don't think we'll have an easy time doing that." Jaune groaned.

"What makes you say that, Jauney?" Nora asked.

The team leader flatly jerked his thumb at the restaurant's window, through which the rest of his team had a clear view of three different Dust shops, all vandalized and boarded up.

"Ah... heh, riiiight..." The valkyrie rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Think we can get away with telling Goodwitch that all the shops were closed?" Jaune asked uneasily.

"Probably..." Ren mused. "But I _really_ don't want to risk getting on her bad side. A matter of wanting to stay in good health and out of detention, you know."

"Well then I'm all out of ideas," Jaune said, throwing his hands up in the air. There was a moment of silence as the other three members of the team wracked their brains for a solution, until Pyrrha spoke up.

"I… might have an idea," she said, her voice hesitant. "I know a place that will definitely have Dust. The robberies wouldn't have even remotely affected it."

For a moment, Jaune sat there, confused, until he spotted Nora and Ren looking at him expectantly. "Oh! Right, uh, lead the way, Pyrrha."

One paid check and ten minutes of walking later, Team JNPR found itself standing in front of a sizable office building in one of Vale's industrial parks. The building was of generic construction, distinguished from its neighbors only by the large snowflake logo above the main doors that had the letters SDC emblazoned over it.

"Uh, Pyrrha," Jaune started uneasily. "This is the regional branch headquarters of the Schnee Dust Company. I _don't_ think that they actually sell Dust here, and definitely not to rookie Hunters. Even _I_ know that much."

"I-I know that, but, well... I have a, uh, friend who works here," Pyrrha said, rubbing the back of her head. "A very high-placed friend. Who can definitely get us some top-notch ammo if I ask for it."

"Ooooh! Who's this friend of yours?" Nora asked enthusiastically. "Is he, like, this super-awesome corporate executive deciding the fate of entire companies with the swipe of a finger?"

Pyrrha's face drained of blood for a moment before she started hastily marching towards the entrance. "L-let's just go inside, shall we?" she squeaked.

Ren and Jaune exchanged confused looks for a second before shrugging and following her, a mirthfully oblivious Nora in tow.

The lobby was surprisingly tasteful for one of the largest corporations in Remnant. The walls were a soft blue-white, the chairs actually looked comfortable, the carpet wasn't hideous, and the only real nod to the company's might was another copy of their logo, dominating the wall behind the reception desk, which was manned by three bored-looking secretaries. Pyrrha made a beeline for the reception desk, and rapped on the wooden surface to get the attention of one of the secretaries.

The woman looked up at Pyrrha, bored expression still on her face. "Can I help you, miss…?"

Pyrrha put on a winning smile, though it looked distinctly brittle. "Pyrrha Nikos. I need you to pass my name up to the local director."

The secretary looked at Pyrrha for a long moment, her bored expression not wavering a bit. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I- Look, just humor me on this, okay?" Pyrrha said, frustration starting to creep into her voice.

Another long look. "You're not gonna leave until I bother the Director, are you," she stated more than asked.

"Sorry, I know they're probably in a meeting," Pyrrha said. "But it is rather urgent."

The secretary sighed. "Fine. I'm not taking the heat for this, though." She reached for her console, tapping in a few commands. "Hello? … Yes, I'm sorry to bother you, but there's this person here insisting on passing her name on to the Director. … Pyrrha Nikos." The secretary's eyes widened, any lethargy vanishing in an instant. "Really? She's … My apologies, ma'am, I didn't recognize her. … Yes, her team's here too, should I-? … One moment."

The secretary looked up at Pyrrha. "Did you want your team to come with you, or…" At Pyrrha's nod, she turned back to the screen. "Yes, she wants her team to come with her. … Alright, I'll send her up right away." Ending the call, the secretary looked back up to Pyrrha, her expression much more lively. "I'm afraid that Director Lorenson isn't in right now, but there _is_ someone who wants to see you. She's waiting in the Director's office."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise before she composed herself. "I-I see. Thank you." She turned back to her team, who were standing behind her in confusion. "Well? Come on," she said, walking towards the elevators.

The remaining three members of Team JNPR hastily followed, still confused at what they had just seen. None of them said anything until they were all in the elevator, at which point Nora simply couldn't wait any longer.

"Wooooow, that was so cool! You walked in like you owned the place, and then that secretary was all grumpy and stuff until she learned your name and then she was all 'How may I help you today' and you wanted to see the _Director_ and how do you even know these guys and-"

"Nora," Ren said, putting his hand over her mouth. "Perhaps we should let her answer."

"Mmm mm," came the muffled agreement. Ren removed his hand, waiting expectantly for Pyrrha to answer.

Said champion hesitated nervously. "It's… not that much of a story," she started slowly before pausing and sighing heavily. "Okay, it actually _is_ a story. You all know how I became famous, right? Record wins in the Mistral tournament?" Nods all around. "Well, to get into the tournament, you need to have a sponsor, someone with a fair amount of pull and money. And well, back then, I wasn't really..." Pyrrha hung her head dejectedly. "I didn't look like much. A wet-behind-the-ears kid with a lot of bark and no bite who no one was willing to waste their time on..."

Jaune made the connection and looked down at the snowflake emblem that was emblazoned on the floor of the elevator. "Except for the SDC?"

Pyrrha nodded definitively. "They let me compete like I'd dreamed of and I returned the favor by making sure to _win._ I've always made sure to do them proud because as embarrassing as the hero worship might be at times, I owe _everything_ to the Schnee Dust Company because they gave me a _chance._ If it weren't for this company... for all of them..." Pyrrha stared at her hands solemnly, flexing her fingers and watching the materials of her gloves fold and bend. "I probably wouldn't be here in the first place..."

No one said anything. What could you really say to that? Of course, that meant a silence made very awkward by the close proximity the elevator created. Finally, Jaune tried lighten the mood a bit.

"Wow... Pyrrha, that's-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a light _ding_ as the elevator reached its destination, opening up into a very posh waiting room, all red velvet and gilded wood and a large, and somewhat out-of-place, bay window overlooking the Vale skyline. You could even see the ruins of Mountain Glenn, if you squinted. Nora let out a low whistle as she took it all in. "Wow. Fancy."

"Feel free to sit anywhere," Pyrrha said, heading for the door at the far end of the room. "I'll go talk to, uh, whoever's currently in charge and ask for some Dust."

Before Pyrrha could knock, however, the door opened from within and her jaw dropped open in shock when she saw who'd opened it.

The woman in the doorway had long, dark hair, and wore a red suit jacket and skirt over a standard white shirt, with a black tie trimmed in yellow waves like fire. Her yellow eyes matched the mirth in her smirk as Pyrrha struggled to formulate a response. "Hello, Miss Nikos. We've been waiting for you."

"M-Miss Fall!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "Wait, if you're here, then-!"

"Hello, Pyrrha."

The huntress in question gasped in shock as Cinder stepped back and slowly opened the door, revealing a woman sitting behind the desk bedecked in a full white suit, an equally white duster draped over the back of her chair. Her white hair was done up in a long ponytail with a crown-like band resting upon her skull at its base. A thin, vertical scar over her left eye completed the picture, doing nothing to lessen her impressive aura of power.

Weiss Schnee smiled benevolently at the girl. "It's been quite a while."

"M-m-miss Schnee!" Pyrrha tripped over her words with eager haste. "Bu-! How-!? What are you-!?"

"I'm here for a business meeting. The Vale branch was the best place where me and my associate could meet in person." Weiss answered the last question simply. "You came at a good time; she had to step out to use the restroom, so-"

The CEO was cut off by a hidden panel in the waiting room's wall sliding open, allowing a loud flushing noise to ring out as a statuesque blond in a rather… abbreviated military uniform stepped out.

"Sorry about the stall, I might have cracked it a little. Those things are _way_ too- oh!" The woman cut herself off when she noticed the teenagers staring at her before plastering an ear-to-ear grin on her face. "Hey! Pyrrha Nikos, right? And your team? I'm General Yang Xiao Long, nice to meet you! Sorry a... bout..." She was about to continue, but trailed off when she caught sight of Nora.

Yang's face scrunched up in thought. "Wait... don't I know-! Oh yeah!" She pounded her fist into her palm as she smirked with satisfaction. "I remember you! You're the little badass who helped me and my guys take out that Deathstalker nest at Old Rock! Nice to see you again! Hey, want an autograph?"

The resultant supersonic squeal cracked every piece of glass in a twenty meter radius.

"DAMN IT, XIAO LONG! THOSE WINDOWS ARE COMING OUT OF YOUR PAYCHECK!"

 _"OH COME ON!"_

 **-o-**

Several replacement windows made of ice later, everyone was calmly sitting down in a chair retrieved from the waiting room. Or, at least, most everyone was calmly sitting.

"I apologize for my partner, General Xiao Long, she can be... excitable... at times." Ren groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

The blonde general laughed as she waved his apologies off. "Call me Yang, and hey, it's no big deal! Always happy to meet a fan!" Her grin widened as she shifted her other arm. "Especially one this enthusiastic!"

Nora moaned and giggled in ecstasy as she held onto Yang's arm with her entire body and rubbed her cheek against the metal bracelet attached to her wrist. "Sooo... _eeeepiiiiic..."_

A light cough from Weiss drew the attention back to her. "So, Pyrrha, when were you planning on introducing me to your teammates?" She asked politely.

"Oh!" Pyrrha lurched in her seat. "Yes, um, you've already met Nora Valkyrie," she said, indicating the pink-clad girl throttling Yang's arm. "Her partner Lie Ren," her hand moved to him, still shaking his head at Nora. "And my partner and team leader, Jaune Arc," her hand on the blonde, who gave a shaky wave.

"H-Hello."

Weiss quirked an eyebrow at the last introduction. "Hum, I'm surprised you're not the leader, Pyrrha." She eyed Jaune critically, making him shrink slightly into himself. "Arc, huh? Well, so far he seems to be living up to the family name."

Jaune started in surprise. "Y-You know my family, Ms. Schnee?"

"I've worked with a few of your sisters, as has Yang," she replied. "Very talented and very professional."

"Well, _most_ of them are professional!" Yang smirked. "Charlene can chug the good stuff with the best of my guys!"

"Ooookaaay..." Jaune slowly raised his eyebrow at the general. "Good to know. Going to be a heck of a phone call with my mom later, but still, good to know."

"And your grandfather's a legend, of course," Weiss continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "but I don't think anyone expects you to match his accomplishments. Shoot for the level of your sisters, it's much more attainable and only marginally less respectable."

"Oh! I, uh, wasn't... _planning_ to," Jaune replied, his eyes shifty and his voice wobbly.

An uncomfortable silence reigned heavy in the office following the assessment.

Weiss blinked and looked around in confusion. "What? What's wrong?"

Pyrrha groaned and started to massage the bridge of her nose, even as Yang started snickering under her breath like a loon. "Miss Schnee..."

Weiss stared at them absently for a moment before clenching her eyes shut. "I just acted like an insensitive ass, didn't I?"

Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren avoided looking at her uncomfortably and refused to answer.

Cinder, on the other hand, hummed as she worked on the Scroll she had out. "You crushed Mr. Arc's hopes and dreams in a most heartless and cruel manner, Miss Schnee. I was quite impressed, to be honest."

Weiss slapped a hand to her forehead. _"Thank you,_ Miss Fall, for that incredibly... _honest_ assessment."

"My pleasure, Miss Schnee, I assure you."

The CEO sighed heavily as she massaged her temples. "I apologize, Mr. Arc. I have a tendency to be a bit frank at times but I assure you, no offense was intended. I'm certain you'll be a fantastic Hunter, Ozpin wouldn't have made you team leader over Pyrrha without a good reason, of that I'm certain."

"Uh, thanks?" Jaune said uncertainly. A thought occurred to him, sweeping away the uncertainty. "Hey, how do you and Pyrrha know each other? I mean, I know the SDC sponsored her-!"

"Actually, that's a bit inaccurate." Pyrrha interrupted. "It wasn't so much the company that chose to sponsor me as it was Miss Schnee herself."

"It's true." Weiss nodded in agreement. "After I saw Pyrrha display her prowess and natural talent, I _knew_ that she was a goldmine of potential. The other companies and sponsors were fools to pass her over, but I refused to make the same mistake. I personally greenlit her participation in the Mistral Tournament and the rest is history."

"Miss Schnee's been a constant source of support over the years." Pyrrha elaborated enthusiastically, most of her previous nervousness and embarrassment having slowly melted away. "She's motivated me, supplied me with top-class gear, even given me one or two pointers about how to fight! Honestly, if it weren't for Miss Schnee-!"

"Then you'd _still_ be a spectacular Huntress," Weiss cut in firmly. "You have amazing potential and possess an unparalleled drive to tap that potential, as I keep reminding you."

Pyrrha chuckled in embarrassment, but smiled nonetheless. "Sorry, Miss Schnee, and thank you."

The company president smiled fondly. "And please, all of you, we're all friends here. Just call me Weiss. _Not_ Weissy." The last part was accompanied by a frigid glare she shot at Yang, who appeared fantastically unrepentant.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Yang said innocently, giving a one-armed shrug.

Weiss rolled her eyes and muttered darkly under her breath for a moment before reasserting her pleasant demeanor. "Well, anyways, as pleasant as it is to see you again, my dear, I doubt you knew I'd be present here today and I equally doubt that you had any personal ties with Director Lorenson. What brings you to the SDC?"

"We need more Dust rounds," Pyrrha replied. "We used up most of our stock during initiation, and none of the stores in the city had any for sale. Or were even open, come to think of it."

"Yes, you can thank the Crimson Thorns for that," Weiss grumbled, her face contracting into an annoyed scowl.

"The Crimson Thorns?" Pyrrha asked in confusion. "Who are they? Some kind of criminal organization?"

"Not just _a_ criminal organization. _The_ criminal organization, at least here in Vale and somewhat in Atlas and Vacuo. It's not surprising you haven't heard of them, they have only a negligible presence in Mistral, though from what I've heard they're slowly expanding," Cinder replied as she continued to work. "They've committed every crime in the book, from arson and assault and battery to vandalism and the occasional white-collar crime, though they're usually a bit blatant with the latter. The recent string of Dust robberies has their fingerprints all over it."

"The really weird thing about them is that they often don't shy away from a fight," Yang added. "My Devils have had over a dozen run-ins with them, and they usually end in a sustained firefight over the goods rather than just bugging out at the first chance they get." She folded her free arm over her chest and sulked a bit. "The seriously sucky part is that it works. They've managed to get away with a metric _shitload_ of Dust in the past two _weeks_."

Weiss sighed heavily as she also crossed her arms over her chest. "Honestly, I can appreciate a spike in demand as much as the next firm, but only when my supply can adequately handle it. That's why the good general is here; we're renegotiating the contracts between the Dust Devils and the SDC. They'll redouble the troops they supply for security efforts, and in return, we guarantee them a supply of ammunition at a discount rate."

"Oh right! Speaking of those contracts!" Yang patted down her jacket and fished out a battered and wrinkled sheaf of papers. "I read them while I was on the can. Everything looked alright so I went ahead and signed them. We should be good to go."

Weiss gave the blonde a shaky smile that held far too many teeth. "Oh, that's... nice..." She gingerly took hold of the contracts with the tips of her index finger and thumb. "I'll just... put these..." She hastily dropped them on the corner of her desk and vigorously wiped her hand off on her jacket.

"Prude," Yang snickered.

"Slob," Weiss shot back with a glare.

"Arrogant prick." Yang's grin widened.

"Barbaric neander-!"

"Sorry to cut off one of your _always_ amusing back-and-forth sessions, Miss Schnee," Cinder cut them off flatly. "But one of my assistants just texted me. Your next appointment is in the elevator."

"Oh, is that time already?" Weiss jerked in shock before shooting an apologetic smile at Pyrrha. "I'm so sorry, my dear. I'd _love_ to spend some more time catching up with you, but I'm afraid that I can't miss this meeting. It was pure luck that I managed to book the CEO of Landels Machinery on such short notice. Miss Fall?"

"Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"Please escort General Xiao Long and Team...?"

"JNPR, or Juniper, Miss- ah..." Pyrrha hesitated at the semi-scolding look Weiss gave her. "Juniper, Miss Weiss."

Weiss chuckled and shook her head lightly. "Oh Pyrrha... anyways, see them out and see to it that they receive the best ammunition we can provide."

"Understood, Miss Schnee." Cinder nodded definitively before turning and walking out of the office.

Yang and Team JNPR made to follow her, but Pyrrha paused in the doorway and turned towards the CEO. "Goodbye, Miss Weiss."

Weiss smiled, giving Pyrrha a dainty wave. "Goodbye, Pyrrha. Don't worry, we'll see each other again soon enough."

Pyrrha didn't have time to ponder that cryptic statement before the door closed behind her.

"Well!" Yang stated firmly as she rolled her shoulders, ignoring Nora's weight the entire time. "Seeing how there's nowhere I've got to be in the next few hours, what say I escort you guys back to the airship docks? Vale's a dangerous place lately, and I've got a _ton_ of stories I can tell you!"

"YES!" Nora shouted, still attached to Yang's right arm, before the rest of her team could respond. "Yes we will! Right guys?" she continued, twisting her head around in order to shoot them a too-wide grin and a glare that promised pain.

"Y-Yes! That sounds great!" Jaune frantically responded. Pyrrha and Ren nodded equally fervently in agreement.

"Great!" Yang said, seemingly oblivious to Nora's actions. "Now, we just need to wait for the elevator."

Almost as if in response, the elevator doors opened, disgorging an older businessman in a suit that was clearly a notch or two below Weiss' in quality. Glancing at the group, he straightened his back and tie before striding towards the doors to the office.

"That poor bastard has no idea what he's getting into," Yang breathed to herself with an eager grin as they all entered the now-vacant elevator. "So! I believe I promised you guys stories! And I think I'll start us off with one of the good ones. So, this was about a month after I formed the Dust Devils, and we were in Atlas competing with several other mercenary companies for a security contract…"

 **~o~**

"... And, just to put salt in the wound, we left behind a timed explosive in his Dust stash and let the bastard think he got away. I wish I could have seen his expression when he got back to his safehouse, only to see it go up in flames! Ah, good times." The story finished, Yang glanced out the Bullhead's side window. "Oh, looks like we're here already! Man, time sure flies when you're having fun."

"Right... 'fun'..." Pyrrha smiled uneasily.

"A rusty spoon..." Jaune was muttering to himself, a far-away look in his eyes. "Ten grown men... _with a rusty spoon..."_

"Nora, that means it's time to let go of General Xiao Long," Ren admonished, seemingly unfazed by the general's… _colorful_ stories.

"Don' wanna," Nora whined childishly, redoubling her grip on Yang's arm.

"It's fine, it's fine," Yang replied, waving off Ren's concern. "Actually, this kind of works out for me! Gives me an excuse to actually check out Beacon! Man, I haven't been here in, what, five years?"

"Six, as a matter of fact."

There, standing on the landing pad, was the rotund, mustachioed form of Professor Peter Port, who was holding, Team JNPR realized with a start, his blunder-axe in one hand and a whetstone in the other. He was meticulously sharpening the blades, dragging the rough stone up one edge .

Port, content that he had won their attention, chuckled lightly. "Oh, my apologies, _Miss Yang_. I hope you don't mind if I sharpen Ivory Barrage while we talk. I was in the middle of maintenance when I was informed that you were coming, and I was in _such_ a hurry I completely forgot I was holding it."

Yang gave the professor an unreadable look. "Riiight..." She droned. "Anyways, you were saying?"

"Oh, nothing much really, nothing much." Professor Port chuckled. "Just that it has, in fact, been _six_ years since the day you left Beacon academy, taking with you all the skills and all the knowledge we armed you with."

Yang stared at him flatly for a moment before chuckling and scratching the back of her head. "Oh yeeeeah, now that I think about it, you're right! Sorry, I've got sooo many things to remember that the more... trivial bits get forgotten," She shrugged in a helpless manner. "You know how it is."

Professor Port chuckled heartily. "Oh yes yes, I'm certain that you're quite busy nowadays, running that band of mercenaries you founded and all that!"

The general's grin widened a few molars. "We actually prefer the term 'freelance army', just so you know."

"Oh, well, tomato tomahto. You know how it is." The professor slipped the whetstone back into his pocket and inspected the blade he had been working on. "Speaking of you and your mercenaries, there's something that I'm quite curious about..."

Yang's muscles tensed minutely. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Well see, the thing is, Miss Yang, back in the day, you were never what I would call the 'wealthiest' of individuals. And yet, when you went to start your little merry band, lo and behold you had the necessary start-up capital right in the palm of your hand." Professor Port lightly ran a finger over his gun's blade. "Might I inquire as to where you came by that small fortune?"

Yang was silent for a moment before shrugging. "Oh, you know, here and there. I shook some hands, put in a few good words, got some investors interested. Nothing special, really."

Port cocked an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"It is." The general returned evenly.

The two adults stared at each other quietly for what felt like an eternity, neither willing to capitulate to the other.

Finally, Yang shrugged and started to march forwards. "Well! It was nice seeing you, Professor, but I've got to get going! Need to get these guys back to their dorm and-!"

"I'm afraid..." Professor Port swung Ivory Barrage down, planting its muzzle on the floor in front of him as he folded his hands over its stock. "That won't be possible. I'm afraid that without a familial relation or pre-existing appointment, I cannot allow you onto school campus. Terribly sorry, but it's the school's policy. You know how it is."

There was another moment of absolute tension, before Yang gave a sigh. "Fine." She reached up and yanked Nora off her arm with absolutely no effort whatsoever. "Sorry, squirt. Looks like you'll need to give me the grand tour some other time."

"But-but-but-!" Nora whined as she was handed off to Ren, who struggled slightly under her weight.

"Hey, don't sweat it!" Yang grinned. "I'm sure we'll see each other again real soon!"

"Oh, now, let's not go that far!" Port chuckled in a grandfatherly manner. "No need to try altering your schedules around the whole thing."

Yang chose to ignore the professor, instead digging into her pocket and proffering a small square of paper. "Here, my card. I still remember how kickass you were taking down those Deathstalkers. The Dust Devils could use a recruit like you."

Nora squealed and made to grab the card, but before she could even come close a large hand clamped down around Yang's wrist. "Miss Yang..." Professor Port grinned merrily. "I would very much appreciate it if you _didn't_ attempt to recruit my students right in front of me. A matter of... professional courtesy, you know."

If Yang was in any way disconcerted by the professor's grip, her cocky grin didn't show it. "Careful there, Pappy Peter," She drawled. "Moving so fast at your age, it must be dangerous. Wouldn't want you to break a bone, would we?"

Team JNPR froze as the tension ratcheted up another notch. It was practically a physical force at this point. Nora couldn't even protest Port taking the card.

Port's grin twitched slightly as he let her go. "I do believe it's time for you to leave, Miss Yang. You are a busy woman, after all. Best you get back on the Bullhead and be on your way."

Yang's grin somehow became even more vicious. "Oh, there's no real need. See, I _thought_ something like this would happen, so on the way here I... texted someone."

Port tensed sharply. "Who did you call." He demanded.

"Ohh, no one special." Yang chuckled.

Suddenly, the air was filled with the roar of engines as a quintet of Bullheads rose above the edge of the landing platform. The aerial vehicles were covered in pitch-black armor and were loaded down with a variety of weapons: rocket pods, chin-mounted autocannons, and a pair of missile tubes beneath the wings. The sides of the Bullheads bore decals that looked like whirling yellow tornadoes with either wide grins or determined scowls, and orange flames licking their edges.

"I just told my guys to come and pick me up. No big whoop."

Port's knuckles turned white as his grip on his weapon redoubled. "Some people might consider this to be an act of _war,_ Miss Yang."

For a moment, Yang's grin took on a decidedly bloodthirsty tinge. "Those people might want to consider their position before making any grand claims. After all, they might just be some no-name person at some no-name school, whereas _I_ have an army at my back." As fast as the menace was there, it was gone. "Ain't hypotheticals fun?" She chirped.

Professor Port's mustache twitched with irritation as one of the Bullheads turned to the side and opened its doors. "Miss Yang-!"

"Actually, Professor..." Yang leapt from the launchpad into the open door, gripping the edge of the frame for stability. She shot a savage smirk over her shoulder. "That's General Xiao Long to you."

Port tensed momentarily before relaxing somewhat. "If you insist, General. Oh, and before I forget, your team sends their regards!"

 _That_ somehow managed to strike a nerve in the General, causing her to shoot him a vicious glare before grinning at Team JNPR. "Well, I'll be seeing you around, kids! _Count on it!"_ She rammed her fist against the hull of ship twice. _"Let's get a move on, dinguses! Those Grimm aren't killing themselves!"_

The doors slid shut and the Bullheads flew off into the distance with a roar of mechanical power. Port waited until the Bullheads were simply specks in the distance before turning around and striding back towards Beacon.

"Come, students, it's getting quite late and you have classes tomorrow," he stated calmly.

"P-professor!" Jaune blurted, snapping out of the paralysis that had befallen his entire team during the length of the conversation. "I-w-what was _that_ all about!? Why were you and Yang-!?"

Professor Port froze in his tracks. " _General Xiao Long,_ as she apparently prefers to be called, is a disgrace to Beacon Academy. Instead of becoming a Huntress, she went rogue and founded the band of hooligans-for-hire she calls an army." He cast a cold look over his shoulder. "For your sakes, I _pray_ that you do not follow her down that path. Am I understood?"

The students nodded hesitantly.

"Perfect!" Port's demeanor lightened instantly. "Now then, I see that you all have the ammunition you went out to purchase! Go store it away and then return to your room, pip pip!"

Team JNPR exchanged nervous glances before gingerly making their way past the Professor towards the school.

Once the students were out of sight, Por's expression fell back into a heavy frown. He turned around and watched as the Bullheads vanished into the distance before pulling his Scroll out of his pocket, staring at it for a moment before dialling a number. "Ozpin? … Yes, I met her. She's gotten stronger. I doubt that I, or most of the faculty, for that matter, could defeat her. ... No, I already checked. Whatever her Bullheads are made of or coated with, they're blocking the signal from the tracker. ... Mm hmm... Mm hmm, understood. If that's all you need, I do have work to do. Papers to grade and all that. I'll talk to you tomorrow. … _Good night_ , Ozpin." He sighed as he shut off his Scroll. "Honestly, that man…"

And with that, he slowly turned and strode back towards the academy.

 **~o~**

"... It's going quite well, to be honest. I already have Pyrrha practically wrapped around my finger - sweet girl, if a bit naive - and, in a stroke of good luck, that Valkyrie girl practically worships the ground Yang walks on. Though, I - excuse me for a moment," Weiss said into her scroll, buffing her nails against her sleeve before examining them. She then raised an eyebrow at the man sitting across from her. "Are you almost through reading our terms yet?"

The CEO of Landels Machinery hastily switched his dumbfounded gaze between the papers in his hands and Weiss. "T-these are-!"

"I'm so glad you agree, one moment please." Weiss returned her attention to her Scroll. "As I was saying, it's going quite well. As a skeptic, I'd have to say it's going almost too well, but you know me. Healthy paranoia is the reason why I'm on top. ... Hm?" She cocked her head to the side. "Oh, no no, it's nothing important, don't worry. Just a minor corporate takeover, barely worth my attention, I can split my focus."

"Minor corporate-!" The president sputtered furiously before leaping to his feet. "Miss Schnee! I came here to negotiate a _contract_ between-!"

Weiss gave the man a frigid glare before sighing. "One moment, darling." She covered her Scroll's speaker with her hand. "Miss Fall. The photographs please?"

Cinder drew a folder from the organizer she was carrying and opened it on the desk, displaying the contents within. The CEO took one look at them and the blood drained from his face.

"Thank you, Miss Fall." Weiss nodded appreciatively before focusing on the CEO. "Now then, as the terms state, you'll be funneling the majority of your profits to the SDC. You'll be able to keep enough to keep your company running and your workers paid, _obviously,_ but you and the rest of your board will have to settle for tightening your belts. A _lot._ Still, I'm certain that you have enough saved up to survive. Also, you'll be providing mining equipment to the Schnee Dust Company completely pro bono, and you'll be transferring as many shares as you can to me, free of charge. To be honest, I'm being quite lenient with you. Now, do we have a deal?"

The CEO didn't respond. He was too busy staring at the photographs in terrified shock.

"I'll get back to you. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She uncovered her Scroll. "I'm back. ... No no, it's fine. As I told you, this is just a _minor_ takeover. Barely worth a dozen million Lien, if that. I should be finished within minutes. Now, how are things on your end?" Weiss listened for a few moments before smiling eagerly. _"Perfect!_ Wonderful, simply wonderful. Store the merchandise in the Vale dockyards, warehouses eleven through twenty-three. I'll send some people around to pick it up. Now, do you need anything from me or-?"

"I..." The CEO finally broke his silence. "I won't..."

Weiss shot the president a flat look before rolling her eyes and heaving a heavy sigh. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut our conversation short, my dear. This buffoon is being... _difficult._ I'll call you back later. Until then!" She shut her Scroll and shot the CEO an irritated glare. "What?" She demanded.

"I-I won't do it..." The CEO said, weakly at first, but then with more force, slamming his palms on the table. "I won't do it! This is blackmail! This is _extortion!_ I'll take this to the police! To the _government!_ I-I won't be made a fool of by some young upstart who barely fills her father's-!"

 _"Miss Fall."_ Weiss commanded darkly, her voice as cold as a glacier.

Before the CEO could react, Cinder had stepped up to his side and shoved a bit of wood between his teeth. The CEO tried to spit the wood out...

Then bit into it and screamed in pain when the secretary rammed a dagger of black glass through his hand, pinning it to the desk.

"Mister Landels, look- look at- _look at me,_ _Mister Landels!"_ Weiss ordered firmly, grabbing the CEO's chin and forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Mister Landels. Listen to me." She said slowly. "You stumbled and impaled your hand on a decorative paper weight- No no, Mister Landels, _look at me!"_ She redoubled her grip on the CEO's chin when he started to struggle. "Mister Landels, this is very important. It is imperative that you comprehend the consequences of how you explain your injury. It is the difference between you living a long and healthy life and you jumping off the roof of your own building and leaving behind two widows and three half-orphans. _Do I make myself clear, Mister Landels?"_

The CEO of Landels Machinery stared at Weiss in absolute terror before nodding slowly.

"Good. Miss Fall?"

Cinder yanked the dagger out of the CEO's hand and went about wrapping the wound with a roll of gauze she drew from one of her pockets.

The man spat the bit of wood out of his mouth and panted heavily. "M-Miss Schnee..."

" _Sign,_ Mister Landels." She ordered without a hint of emotion, pushing the papers forwards.

The CEO stared at her in terror for a moment before slowly sitting down, picking up a pen with his uninjured hand and hesitantly writing.

Weiss stared at him icily for a moment before sighing heavily as she cracked her neck back and forth. "Good _heavens_ this job is stressful. Miss Fall, do me a favor and schedule an appointment at the Alabaster, would you? I'm getting a crick in my neck and I think I'll need some deep-tissue work."

"Of course, Miss Schnee." The secretary nodded as she finished wrapping up the CEO's hand and took out her Scroll, making a quick note on it.

"Perfect!" Weiss chirped. Then, noticing that Landels was done signing, she snatched the papers up from in front of him and started to look them over, humming in satisfaction as she went. "Mm hmm, mm hmm, yes, yes, this all appears to be in order!" She clasped her hands happily. "Fantastic! Well, we're done here. Miss Fall, please see Mister Landels out. Tell Mercury to give him the standard workover."

"At once, Miss Schnee." Cinder nodded in acknowledgment, tapping another button on her scroll and causing a panel in the wall to slide open. She then grabbed the CEO by his shoulders and started to drag him towards it.

"W-what!?" He sputtered, struggling helplessly against the secretary's iron grip. "B-but I agreed! I-I won't tell anyone, I swear! P-please _don't-GAH!"_ He was cut off when he was bodily hurled through the opening.

"Give him the standard." Cinder called through the doorway before sliding it shut.

The CEO slowly managed to get back to his feet, knees knocking furiously as he glanced around the shadows that ruled the room.

"Geeze..." A tired voice wafted out of the darkness.

The CEO jumped when a lanky silver-haired young man in a black-and-grey jacket and gunmetal greaves stepped into sight.

"You're the reason why they woke me up?" Mercury drawled. "Lame. Still, a job's a job. Assume the position."

The CEO blinked in confusion. "P-position? What are you-!?"

Before the man could react, Mercury sprang forwards and brought one of his boots down on one of his kneecaps, causing a sickening _CRACK_ to ring out.

"ARGH!" The CEO roared in pain, falling on his side as he clutched his shattered knee in agony.

 _"That_ position."

"W-why!?" The CEO blubbered. "I-I signed her contracts, I surrendered _everything..."_

"Yeah, you did..." Mercury nodded in agreement as he crouched next to the man. "Buuut you put up a fight. So, I'm going to teach you _not_ to do that by making the next hour of your life hell on Remnant." Mercury drew himself up to his full height. "Look on the bright side: I won't be leaving anything visible besides the knee. Now then... you might want to grit your teeth. This is going to hurt."

Outside the room, Weiss had turned her chair away from her desk so that she was staring out over Vale's skyline, watching as the setting sun painted the skies red.

Cinder stepped up to her side, a tray held between her hands. "Tea, Miss Schnee?"

"Hm?" Weiss glanced up at her secretary before smiling contentedly. "Ah, yes. Thank you, Miss Fall."

Cinder set the tray down on the desk, poured a cup and handed it to Weiss.

Weiss took a sip from the cup and hummed contentedly, savoring the flavor as screams of agony and pleas for mercy filled the office.

"Perfect."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The sound of steel on steel rang out as grey mace met red and bronze shield, their owners gritting their teeth as they pushed their weapons into a lock to try and overpower the other. Slowly, though, the shield began to push back the mace, despite the two-handed grip on the weapon.

"I see… you're living up… to your reputation... champion…" Cardin Winchester ground out between his gritted teeth as he tried to avoid losing traction. "It's too bad… you're stuck… with that millstone… of a team… and a leader…"

"My team…" Pyrrha practically growled. "Is not… WORTHLESS!"

With almighty shove, aided by a magnetic push, she broke the deadlock, sending Cardin tumbling onto his back. She wound up to fling her shield...

"LOOK OUT!"

And was promptly staggered under the weight of Jaune slamming into her back. Falling forward, she managed to put her hand down and push off the floor to turn the fall into a quick roll, coming back to her feet to see the silver-haired Sky warily eyeing her, his halberd raised in a defensive position. In her peripheral vision, she could see Cardin climbing to his feet, and Jaune coming to a sprawled stop on the floor.

Switching Milo to rifle mode, Pyrrha sent a quartet of shots at Sky, prompting him to hastily deflect them, distracting him from the incoming shield that knocked him on his back. Turning and running, she managed to get between Jaune and Cardin's mace in time to block the blow.

"Heh!" Cardin scoffed. "Protecting him again? Real nice 'leader' you've got there, Nikos! He's a real piece of-!"

What Cardin intended to call Jaune was lost by Milo colliding with his sternum. Cardin went tumbling again, this time long enough to slam him into the wall. Exhaling, Pyrrha reached down to lift Jaune to his feet.

"Thanks, Pyrrha, I- PINK!" Jaune shouted, scrambling away desperately as his eyes locked onto something behind her. Puzzled, Pyrrha turned around, her eyes widening at the sight of one Nora's pink grenades tumbling through the air on a trajectory to land right next to them.

Pyrrha immediately dove away from the grenade, snapping her shield up for further protection. The grenade hit the floor, bounced, and then detonated in a flash of pink.

When the dust cleared, Pyrrha saw that in her haste to get away from the grenade she had put too much distance between her and Jaune, the one consolation being that Cardin and Sky, thanks to their own evasions, were in no position to capitalize on that error. She risked a glance to the side to see what the hell Nora and Ren were doing to let a grenade land near them.

Nora seemed to be engaging Cardin's blond teammate, Dove if she remembered his name correctly, who was doing a surprisingly good job of blocking Magnhild's strikes. Nora, for her part, looked intensely frustrated, an uncharacteristic rictus of anger and concentration on her face. So much so that she didn't notice the last member of Team CRDN, Russel, popping up behind her with one of his daggers ready to strike, red Burn Dust blazing across its blade.

Silently thanking her lucky stars that she had managed to touch all of Team CRDN's weapons earlier in the fight, Pyrrha raised her hand to redirect Russel's strike. As it turned out, she didn't need to; a head-height kick from Ren forced Russell to duck and miss his chance. The two re-entered their high-speed, dagger-on-dagger duel, even as Nora continued to whale on Dove's guard.

With that half of the fight seemingly well in hand, Pyrrha turned back to her side of the fight. Jaune was back on his feet and staring down Sky, who from the way he kept looking in the air seemed to be more worried about stray grenades than Jaune. Cardin, too, had picked himself up, though he was a little unsteady on his feet.

Pyrrha took in a deep breath, exhaled, and immediately charged Cardin at full speed. Ducking under a hasty swing, she swept the mace-wielding rookie's feet out from under him with her lance. Though not normally a vindictive person, Pyrrha knew that she would forever savor the look on his face as ever-so-briefly hung in the air. Her shield arm swung around, the edge hitting him in the ribcage and denting his breastplate as she sent him hurtling through the air and into the wall once more. This time, when he fell to the floor, Cardin didn't get up.

Straightening herself up, Pyrrha turned around to face Sky, who immediately turned bone-white and took a shaky step back. With her opponent distracted, Pyrrha dashed in and clashed Milo with Sky's polearm, nearly pushing him off his feet. He managed to brace himself and disengage, but found himself pushed back under a rain of fast strikes his bulkier polearm had trouble matching. Out of the corner of her eye Pyrrha noted Jaune slipping off in the direction of Ren and Nora's running battle. Good. Hopefully he would be able to tip the scales in their favor.

Somehow, Sky managed to shift his grip under the rain of blows, putting his hands right below the head of his polearm. This had the effect of drastically speeding up his blocks and even allowing him to attempt the occasional counterattack. In response, Pyrrha switched tactics, shoving her shield in his face and repeatedly jabbing Milo into his gut.

There was a dull *whump* from behind her, accompanied by a gust of ozone, that sounded suspiciously like a dust explosion. Though Pyrrha didn't dare look behind her, she could see the weak smile spread across Sky's face.

"Ever think about getting a new leader?" He grunted. "Cause the one you've got now is a bit of a cl-!"

Pyrrha let out an uncharacteristic growl as she flipped Milo into its rifle form and unloaded a clip of training bullets into Sky's gut. He slumped over, face-first, clutching his stomach.

With great trepidation, Pyrrha turned around, taking in the scene. On the plus side, Nora was still pounding away at Dove, who had been driven into a kneeling position, his sword desperately held above his head to fend off her repetitive overhead blows.

On the debit side, that was all she was doing as Russel stood triumphant over Jaune and Ren's groaning bodies.

Pyrrha sighed, and began to stride towards Russell. His self-satisfied smirk dropped instantly upon seeing her, though unlike Sky he didn't panic, instead dropping grimly into a ready stance. She pulled up Milo, still in rifle mode, and began sending shots downrange as she moved closer to Russell. As expected, he deflected all of them, but they served their purpose as a distraction, allowing her to get closer.

Ultimately, the conflict drew to a close with Pyrrha uppercutting Russel in the chin with Milo, lifting him bodily off the ground before slamming him into the unforgiving cold, unforgiving metal of the floor.

Nora, meanwhile, had finally managed to defeat Dove. More than defeat, actually. At some point in their fight, the valkyrie had managed to disarm the other rookie and catch him in a headlock. She was currently ramming her fist into Dove's skull over and over again as she clutched his neck under her arm.

"Miss Valkyrie! Miss Valkyrie! Nora!"

"Huh?" Nora paused in her pummeling and blinked at Goodwitch in confusion.

The senior huntresses' eye twitched momentarily as she adjusted her glasses. "Your team has... won."

Nora blinked again. "Oh. Alright." She let the barely conscious rookie go... after imparting a final dose of trauma to his cranium.

Glynda's eye twitched again, but she hastily recomposed herself and raised her voice to address the stadium. "Team JNPR wins by three knockouts..." She cast a wary glance at Dove's moaning form. "And what is most likely a severe concussion."

"But mommy, I don't wanna ride the flying pig..." Dove mumbled blearily. "I don't like the color blue, and it'll eat my biscuits..."

Glynda cocked her eyebrow at the trainee before rolling her eyes. She flicked her riding crop, causing a burst of violet aura to flash around Ren and Jaune's eyes. Moments later, they were blinking themselves awake and groaning at their newly forming bruises.

"Did we win?" Jaune asked miserably.

"Technically, yes." Glynda stated flatly. "Miss Nikos was particularly admirably, defeating three opponents on her own. However..." She swept a frigid glare over the conquering team. "I trust that you all understand what I mean when I say that I am... disappointed in your performance."

The four students flinched and nodded shamefacedly.

"Good. Now, I suggest you go back to your room; I'm sure you have a lot to talk about."

The team nodded once more in agreement and trudged out of the arena.

As they left, Glynda took out her scroll and tapped in a number. "Please send a medical team down to collect Mister Bronzewing..."

"HURK!"

"...as well as a janitor and a new pair of boots."

 **~o~**

It was a dejected Team JNPR that found themselves back in their dorm room, all sitting on their beds nursing their moods. Pyrrha's eyes kept shifting between teammates, and she was fidgeting as if she wanted to say something. Nora was sitting at the edge of her bed, her head down and her whole being unusually still and quiet. Ren's brows were contracted into a mild glower, though one that was directed at nobody in particular. And Jaune was slumped over, his head in his hands.

Sighing, Jaune sat up and flopped back onto the bed. "Well. That was… uh… We were…"

"We sucked," Nora said flatly.

Jaune winced, but continued on regardless. "Yeah, that about sums it up. So, uh, I guess we should go over what went wrong back there, see what we can do to fix things."

"We should go over what went right, it'd be a shorter list," Ren grumbled.

"Oh, that's easy!" Jaune exclaimed, sitting up with an unexpected grin on his face. "That was you, man! You were awesome out there!"

"You were handling yourself pretty well out there," Pyrrha agreed. "So how did you go down?"

Ren's face darkened as he shot an uncharacteristically sour glance at Jaune. "I got tripped up trying to watch my backup's back."

Pyrrha, puzzled, gave Jaune an inquisitive glance.

"I… might have missed the signs of Dust ammunition until he actually used it..." Jaune replied, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Only several years of spending half her time in front of the media and working on keeping up a poker face in front of her opponents stopped Pyrrha from demanding to know how he had missed that.

"How the heck did you miss that?! Dust ammo isn't exactly subtle! It's usually loud and sparky and has lots of boom and blam and kablamo!" Nora demanded, complete with broad gestures and sound effects.

"You weren't much better, Nora," Ren chided firmly. "Did you even notice when the fight was over?"

Nora stared at him silently for a second, opening and closing her mouth before clenching her jaw and looking down. "No..." Nora said in a quiet voice. "I didn't." Like a switch had been flipped, her demeanor instantly shifted to indignant. "Hey, I beat that guy! Why are you getting on my case?!"

"Uh, Nora," Jaune started, his voice wavering slightly. "You were kind of… distracted."

"He means you had tunnel vision the whole time," Pyrrha cut in. "You nearly hit me and Jaune with one of your grenades because you were too focused on your opponent and not enough on shot placement."

"Speaking of focusing on one opponent," Ren interjected, his voice notably frosty. "I know you come from the tournament scene, Pyrrha, but you're clearly far too used to fighting human opponents alone. In case you didn't notice, you're on a team. As such, you need to actually act like a teammate."

Pyrrha bristled at the lecturing tone. "I'd have thought you'd be more appreciative. You know, on account of me keeping half the opposing team off your back," she retorted, her tone dropping to meet Ren's.

Jaune's head swivelled back and forth between Ren and Pyrrha, a cold sweat forming under his hairline. Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, he said, "Uh, guys, why don't we just-"

"That's right!" Nora shouted over him. "We actually beat someone! If you're going to criticize someone, criticize scraggly over here!" Her tirade was punctuated by a quivering index finger pointed in Jaune's direction. "He didn't do anything to help! Heck, he was un-helpful! Really unhelpful!"

"Scraggly?" Jaune snapped indignantly, his earlier nerves gone.

"That's what gets you upset?" Ren muttered under his breath.

Neither of them managed to deter Nora, who was on a rather impressive roll of a rant. "I might have had tunnel vision, but I saw enough of him fumbling around to know that he!" She jabbed her finger at him. "Is by far the worst member of this team! And I'm not just talking about the thing with Ren either, oh no! After all, Pyrrha had to keep saving your scraggly ass. Oh, and guess what? You know how Ozpin made you our leader? Newsflash! YOU SU-!"

"NORA!" Ren roared, actually roared. The rest of the team, but especially Nora, reeled back in shock. She blinked at him numbly for a second, as though she'd awakened from a daze, before paling in horror and bowing her head in shame.

For a long moment, no one made a sound aside from Ren panting lightly.

Finally, someone broke the silence.

"You're right."

Pyrrha snapped her head up in shock. "Jaune-!"

"What?" Said rookie smiled weakly as he stood up from his bed. "She... she is. I-" He swallowed heavily, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "I know I'm not the best fighter. And- and I wasn't a very good teammate or leader, back there. I didn't assist anyone, I didn't give orders or come up with a plan. I just- I sucked. There's no other way to say it. And that needs to change."

He stood up, still not meeting anyone's eyes, and walked to the door, opening it a crack. "I… think we should all go cool off, before we talk again." He stepped out, leaving the door open behind him.

No one said anything. And no one followed him, either. They were too preoccupied with their own thoughts, with the words that had struck too close to home earlier in the conversation but had been too immediate at the time to really sink in.

 **~o~**

Team CFVY, too, was having a team meeting, though thankfully with less shouting. Most of them were seated on their bed: Fox laid on his back on the bottom of his and Coco's bunk bed, idly polishing one of his weapons. Yatsuhashi was leaning against the wall on his custom king-sized bed, and Velvet was swaying slightly above Yatsuhashi in her hammock.

Coco, meanwhile was pacing back and forth in front of a large whiteboard that was hung over a workbench littered with tools and parts, twirling one of the markers in her hand.

"Okay, so, White Fang." Coco wrote the name at the top of the board and underlined it. "What do we know about them?" She shot a half-serious glare at Velvet. "And no angry rants about them being 'rat-bastards' and so forth."

"Even if I make it informative?" Velvet grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head, a blush illuminating her cheeks. "And, well, they're all bastards, and some of them actually are part rat."

"Hm..." Coco tapped her chin before shrugging. "Make sure it's really informative."

Velvet smiled in success before scowling furiously. "The White Fang are a bunch of xenophobic assholes, borderline terrorists who harass and assault any humans or human companies unlucky enough to be perceived as persecuting faunus. Heck, 'borderline' is underselling it. They literally ran a terror campaign against the Schnee Dust Company and forced them to rewrite their entire company policy towards faunus employees!" Velvet lost a little bit of steam at this point. "That... wasn't all that bad, considering the policies in place before Weiss Schnee took over, but still..."

"Yeah, about that…" Coco said, her face set in a grimace as she scribbled the last of the notes on the board, the letters 'SDC' underlined twice with a question mark. "I'm not so sure they've stopped that campaign against the SDC. I mean, there was that attack against an SDC press conference a few days before the semester began-"

"What!" Velvet exclaimed, lurching forwards in shock. "I didn't hear about this!"

"You were tinkering with your little project when it hit the news," Fox replied, indicating the scattering of parts and metal shavings on their shared workbench. "None of us wanted to disturb you. 'Sides, it wasn't that big a deal. Schnee and Xiao Long beat off Belladonna and her troops easily enough."

Velvet's mouth opened and shut as she started to flush furiously, but Yatsuhashi spoke up before she could start. "Sorry, we just didn't want to upset you," he rumbled. The faunus glanced down at him before letting out a weary sigh and laying back down.

Coco sent a worried glance towards Velvet before continuing on her train of thought. "Anyway, there was also the theft of an entire train of Dust around the same time, and a whole string of high-publicity incidents stretching back years. Now, you didn't hear this from me, because my mom would kill me if she knew I was spreading sensitive information like this, but the Fang have been hitting other companies, my family's included, and none of them have been anywhere near as public as their operations against the SDC."

"I dunno," Fox mused. "Their actions don't make sense as a terror campaign. They've already gotten what they wanted from the SDC, so why keep up the pressure like that?"

"Maybe they're making an example of the SDC?" Coco suggested. "Look at what we can do to the biggest, most powerful company in the world. Cross us and we ruin you in public, and unlike them you won't bounce back?"

"It could also be about keeping their members in line," Velvet added. "I know a lot of faunus on the street still don't like the SDC, even after the changes; I can't imagine their members are feeling any more forgiving."

All four were silent for a few minutes as they tried to think of anything else. "Right, I think that's all we have on their corporate-scale actions. What about their smaller-scale operations?" Coco boxed off that section of the board and drew an arrow off to the side, labelling it 'groundlevel'.

"Protests," Velvet answered instantly. "Most of the faunus rights protests you see on the news are organized by White Fang members. Heck, that was what their original mission was before they turned violent." She sighed wearily as she kneaded her forehead. "Nowadays, they're less about picket signs and more about Mistralan Cocktails. That, and..." Her ears drooped as her expression soured. "Individual reprisals."

"Civilians beaten within an inch of their life and put on display for the public." Yatsuhashi grunted. "All last seen harassing or attempting to marginalize a faunus."

"To be fair!" Fox stuck a finger in the air. "Judging by what I heard about them, more than a few of those 'victims' had it coming."

Velvet snapped a glare at her teammate before drawing her legs up and hugging her knees. "I'm not talking about more recent incidents," she said softly. "I'm talking about older incidents. People burned alive in the streets, left hanging from trees for the morning commuters, or simply shot and dumped in a river. All in response to that person raping or killing a faunus."

Her teammates stared at her in shock.

"Velvet... is there something you haven't been telling me?" Coco asked slowly.

Velvet tightened her grip on her legs and looked away. "It- it was bad to be an unaligned faunus in those days. L-look!" She looked up again, desperation in her eyes. "L-let's just say that people got angry before they got scared and move on, alright?"

Velvet's teammates all looked at each other, an understanding passing between them. "One last thing. I already mentioned all the robberies, but the Fang are also involved in a lot of Dust smuggling. No idea who they're smuggling it to or from, though." Coco noted.

Fox shrugged. "Even terrorists need funding, and armaments don't come cheap. They probably use their network to simultaneously make some extra dough and distribute ammo and resources to their cells."

"Yeah, but a whole trainload of Dust? Take it from me, that's a lot of Dust to be supplying any organization short of… an… army…" Coco trailed off as the realization hit. She immediately began furiously scribbling down names on the whiteboard. "An army. They're stocking up for an army. Either their own or someone else's. Velvet!"

Velvet eeped in surprise. "Y-yes?"

"Do you know if the White Fang have begun a big recruiting push?"

"Uh... nooo?" Velvet blinked in confusion. "They tend to keep recruitment both quiet and voluntary. Though..." She bit her knuckle in thought. "I… do know someone who might know more..."

"Good. You're going to talk to him the first chance you get. Or her. Whichever." Coco whirled on Fox next. "You've mentioned that you have contacts in the criminal underworld."

"Assuming that you're speaking to me," Fox gestured at his glassy eyes. "Then yeah, I might know one or two people with slightly shady backgrounds. Slightly."

"I know for a fact that half a dozen of your acquaintances were arrested for a variety of charges." Coco deadpanned.

Fox shot a bemused look in her direction. "First, how the hell? Second, if you know that much, you know that none of them were ever convicted."

"Which wouldn't have happened if not for the copious bribes slipped to the prosecutors." Coco drawled.

That prompted Fox to to scramble into a sitting position. "Okay, seriously, how could you possibly-!? Ah..." He trailed off into a grimace. "Right... Kilikan and Mikovitch... they work for your family, don't they?"

"Worked, past tense." Coco clarified sweetly. "We put their firm six feet under after they blew the case and let loose the scumbags who thought it would be a good idea to... 'liberate' a shipment of merchandise from the Adel Corporation."

Fox swallowed heavily, nervously twitching his hands to and fro. "Ah..."

"If they get us some pertinent information, I'll drop the charges against them."

"Seriously?!" Fox asked excitedly.

"No." Coco deadpanned. "I'll try and get my cousin to halve the bounties on their skulls."

"Oh..." Fox slumped dejectedly before giving her a hopeful grin. "And maybe drop the 'dead' half from the 'dead or alive' parts of said bounties?"

The cold silence that filled the room was answer enough.

"Got it..." Fox groaned.

"Sorry, but it's not really my call." Coco shrugged apologetically. "My mom really wants to mount something somewhere. Maybe I can work it down to 'crippled'?"

"I'm certain they'll be very grateful for the upgrade." Fox deadpanned.

An awkward silence hung over the team for a moment until Velvet hastily clapped her hands. "Right, moving on!" She shot a pleading look down at Yatsuhashi. "Do you know anybody that might be helpful?"

The relatively gentle giant shook his head. "Sorry, I'm afraid not," he replied.

"Well, I'll go into my family's records and see if there are any useful patterns to be found there," Coco finished, writing one last note on the board. "Now, since we're going to look into a notorious terrorist organization, we're going to be following the buddy system. None of us goes anywhere without anyone else watching their backs. Got it?"

"So business as usual, got it," Fox replied.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Coco looked at him over her sunglasses.

"Oh, so you're implying that you and Velvet aren't joined at the hip?" Fox widened his eyes in a faux-innocent manner. While the girls sputtered indignantly, he frowned as a thought came to him. "This may be a dumb question, but there are three locations and four of us. How are we going to do this?"

Coco grumbled darkly before recomposing herself. "I was actually thinking we could enlist JNPR's help on this," she admitted.

"Seriously?" Fox scoffed.

"They are rookies..." Yatsuhashi concurred.

"But they're also reliable!" Velvet piped up. "They handled themselves pretty well against the Goliath, and they did help you guys... 'deal' with CRDL. They're good people. I think we can safely bring them in on this." Suddenly, her ears twitched and she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Hmm... maybe..." Coco mused into her fist. "But you saw that match earlier today. It looks like they might have a few issues of their own."

Velvet smiled even as her ears continued twitching. "I'm sure that they're fine. Or, at least, they'll work it out. Here," she jumped out of her hammock and expertly landed on the ground. "Let me go out and get them. You'll see, they're alright."

She walked out the door...

And sprinted back in thirty seconds later, slamming her back against the door.

"Okay, they are not alright," she whimpered, her eyes wide with panic.

"What happened out there?" Coco rolled her eyes.

"Jaune's pacing back and forth in the hallway trying to work up the courage to speak to you about how to be a good leader." Velvet informed her miserably. "Have I ever told you how much I hate how good my hearing -ohgodnotagain," she whimpered as she clamped her ears flat against her skull.

"Koch and Wessen going at it again?" Coco deadpanned.

"I'm happy for the two of them, but dear god I swear that one day I am going to snap their necks." Velvet half whimpered, half growled.

Coco sighed heavily as she kneaded the bridge of her nose. "I'll have a word with them... after I speak with Jaune." She started to walk towards the door, but was stopped by Velvet hastily springing to her feet in front of her.

"Coco, I want you to promise me something," Velvet said, looking her dead in the eye. "Promise me you'll at least try to be gentle with him. I know brutal honesty is your default but… Jaune's sweet. Soft, but sweet. So, just try, okay?"

Coco gave her an 'are-you-kidding-me' look over her glasses before sighing. "I promise to at least try. I can't promise I'll succeed."

"That's all I ask," Velvet replied with a shaky smile before stepping out of Coco's way. Taking a deep breath, the team leader stepped out into the hall.

Jaune was easy to see, located right down the hall, pacing back and forth and muttering to himself.

'What the heck is he mumbling?' Coco wondered. Unconsciously, she took a step forward, then another as she strained to hear Jaune's words. Even as she got closer, Jaune still didn't seem to notice her. Finally, about five feet from him, she finally got a snippet of his running monologue.

"- the direct approach would be better. 'Hey, Coco, could you teach me how to be a better leader?'"

"Sure, why not, my afternoon's pretty free." Coco stated flatly.

Jaune squawked in panic, jumping several feet in the air and twisting around. "C-C-Coco!"

"Hm. Good reaction time, though you could stand to work on your situational awareness," the more experienced leader smirked.

"R-right... S-so, uh, how much did you hear?" Jaune asked nervously.

"All of it." At the look of horror on his face Coco let out a light chuckle. "No, sorry, I only heard that one line. Velvet, on the other hand, heard a bit more."

Jaune slumped over in depression. "Of course she did. Should've expected that, with the way this day is going."

"When you say that, are you referencing events that took place before or after CRDL handed your and your team your asses in all but name?" Coco inquired.

Jaune didn't reply, simply sinking into a squatting position against the wall, an almost-visible pall of depression hanging over him. "After. Definitely after."

'God, I suck at this,' Coco groaned internally, slapping her hand to her face. 'Okay, one last try before I go back to what works. Just... do what Velvet would do.' Squatting down next to Jaune, she put her arm over his shoulder. "Well, look on the bright side: only way to go is up!"

Jaune mumbled something under his breath that Coco didn't quite catch. It was either "How comforting", "My hovercraft is full of eels", or... well, she really hoped it wasn't the third one. She was wearing new boots and didn't want to ruin them with blood from his... everywhere.

Coco sighed wearily as she wisely elected to move on. "Look, just... what happened?"

"Long story short?" Jaune leaned his head back miserably. "Team JNPR just self-destructed. Pyrrha and Nora and Ren wouldn't get off each other's backs. They turned on each other and... and..." He waved his hand through the air helplessly. "And I couldn't do anything about it. I'm their leader, but... as Nora and Cardin have pointed out... I'm the worst leader in the entire Academy. It doesn't matter how much Pyrrha tries to defend me, it's the truth. They know it, I know it, and I know that deep down, even she knows it."

"Uh... I'm sure that's... not true?" Coco attempted to placate him.

Jaune gave her a flat, sidelong look. "Do you really believe that?"

Coco grimaced, but was luckily saved from answering by Jaune sighing and hanging his head again. "I can't even protect my team from themselves. How am I supposed to lead them in the field?"

Coco looked around uncomfortably before sighing heavily. "Look, Jaune..." She started slowly. "You can't let one failure get you down like this. Mistakes are how we learn, after all. You guys are a good team, I'm sure you'll be fine. So, come on! Hang in there!" She punched him encouragingly in the arm.

All she got was another flat look. "Like I said: do you really believe that?"

Coco's eye twitched before she sighed in exasperation and got up. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her scroll and dialed a number.

"Hey, Velvet? Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I tried."

"What? Waitwaitwait, Coco, please don't-!"

Coco snapped her scroll shut as Jaune looked up in confusion. "What was that about?"

"Velvet told me to try treating you gently. Obviously that hasn't worked out very well." Coco informed him.

"O...kay?" Jaune asked slowly. "So... what now?"

"Now?"

Coco suddenly snatched the front of Jaune's collar and hauled him up and off of his feet, slamming him into the wall.

"Now I do things my way."

"GAH- HEY!" Jaune struggled futilely in her grip. "W-what are you-!?"

"Shut up and stop squirming." Coco growled. He did so immediately. "Now, I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret about leadership: it's all about looking like you know what you're doing, even when you have no goddamn idea. That act requires confidence, and a lot of it. That was your problem earlier today: you didn't have the goddamn balls to actually stand up and lead, despite everything else."

"B-but I-!"

SLAM!

Jaune froze as Coco's fist buried itself in the wall next to his head.

"What did I fucking say?!" she demanded. Once she was certain that she had Jaune's attention, she continued. "Now, then you want my advice? Here it is: take charge, make it clear that you're the one in charge, and tell your teammates to get their shit together. In short?"

Coco suddenly started shaking him back and forth. "MAN UP AND GROW A FUCKING PAIR!" She bellowed. "GOT IT!?"

"I-I-I g-g-got i-i-it! St-st-stop shak-ak-aking me-e-e!" Jaune cried.

Coco promptly let go of his collar, allowing him slump to the floor. "Good." She turned to leave, but paused as if she had just thought of something. "Oh, and by the way. It certainly doesn't hurt if you actually have a plan for helping them actually get their shit together. You certainly had enough time to think of one out here." She started once more before stopping again and turning around. "One last thing."

Jaune flinched... then blinked in confusion as she knelt next to him, took her sunglasses off and folded them into her pocket, and comfortingly placed her hand on his shoulder while she gave him a reassuring look.

"I realize that you're in a hell of a position, Jaune, believe me, I've been there..." She comforted him. "But the fact is that you're the leader, no one else. You need to be strong, not just for yourself, but for your teammates. It's going to be tough. Hell, really. But either way, I'm certain that you'll be able to pull through it. The fact that you recognized that you needed help is a good sign as it is. And don't forget, me and the rest of Team CFVY will help you out too." She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Alright?"

Jaune stared at her in confusion as a medley of emotions played across his face. "You realize that you're a really scary person, right?"

Coco smirked smugly as she stood back up. "And don't you forget it." She snapped her shades back on. "And just for the record, if you ever tell anyone I spoke to you like that, I will crush every bone in your body. Like a twig."

"Aaaaand there's the other shoe." Jaune hung his head with a sigh.

Coco gave him a final wave over her shoulder. "Good luck, Jaune Arc."

The rookie stared after her silently before crawling back to his feet. "Yeah..." He breathed. "I'm going to need it."

As she re-entered her team's room she could see Jaune start back towards his own team's room, and she could see the purpose in her stride.

"So, how did it go?" Velvet asked as Coco closed the door, braced for the answer. "You didn't permanently traumatize him, did you?"

"One time, Velvet," Coco snapped, her index finger held up. "And Thomson - or was that Thompson? I can never remember... Either way, he was able to look at women without crying! Eventually. After extensive psychotherapy... I think..." Coco trailed off before shaking her head. "Anyways, I think it went well. He just needed someone to give him a nice hard kick in the pants."

"Phrasing!" Fox called.

Velvet grimaced and clawed at her face. "Please tell me-!"

"No, I didn't, and no, he won't need me to pay his medical bills." Coco cut them off in exasperation. "Seriously, do you honestly think I'm that violent!?"

The rest of her team fell silent as they glanced at one another.

Finally, Yatsuhashi slowly responded. "You don't want us to answer that."

"Oh screw-!" Coco interrupted herself with a sharp gasp as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "We'll deal with this mutiny later." She ground out. "Anyways..." She glanced at the door. "As for the fate of Team JNPR... we'll just have to wait and see."

 **~o~**

Jaune stood at the door to his team's room. Despite it being just a cheap wooden door, it was more intimidating than anything he'd faced. Well, almost anything. He sincerely hoped the Goliath stayed at the top of that list for the rest of his life.

 _'Come on, you can do this,'_ he said to himself. _'Remember, it's all about confidence. And this needs to get out anyway.'_ Taking another deep breath to steady himself - his third in as many minutes - and grasped the door handle. He almost jerked it away again, but then a thought occurred to him: what if Coco found out he rabbited?

His face immediately turned white at the thought. _'Yeah, that's a bad thing.'_

This time, he pushed down on the handle, and opened the door.

What greeted him was the sight of Nora sitting on her bed in her sleep clothes, a mostly-eaten tub of Rocky Road ice cream in her hands and dried tear tracks obvious on her face, and Pyrrha and Ren in the middle of an argument. None of them seemed to notice him.

"Look, you've got to do something about her!" Pyrrha pleaded, her hands indicating the other girl.

"Oh, so now my job is permanently 'Nora wrangler'," Ren fired back, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

Jaune idly closed the door behind him, and not lightly either. Despite the noticeable thump, still no one noticed him.

"Yes! No. Gah, I don't know!" Jaune idly noted that Pyrrha seemed about ready to tear her hair out. Probably should do something about that.

 _'Well, guess it's time to try that whole confidence thing.'_ Raising two fingers to his mouth in a trick he had learned from one of his sisters, he blew out a loud, shrill whistle. Immediately, all other sound came to a halt as the other three inhabitants of the room turned towards him.

Jaune almost faltered under the attention, but Coco's words rang in his ears. He took a deep breath as he steeled his back and set his jaw. _'Time to grow a spine.'_

"I didn't go to Signal."

The rest of his team blinked in confusion.

"Uh... what?" Pyrrha asked slowly.

Jaune walked over to an available chair and sat down in it, taking a deep breath as he steeled himself again. "I didn't. Go. To Signal Academy." He repeated slowly. "I never had any formalized Hunter training. The transcripts I sent to Beacon? I faked them." He chuckled ruefully. "I'm still a little surprised that actually worked, to be honest. I mean... look at me. I'm not fit enough, I can't fight worth crap, I didn't know about Aura or semblances, and, well…" He indicated Crocea Mors. "I'm nowhere near what anyone can define as being well-equipped."

"And you know what?" Jaune spread his arms wide. "None of that matters now. I'm here, at Beacon, I'm your leader, and I have to make the most of it. I..." He grimaced as he slowly ran his hand over his face. "I should have told you this earlier. Like, right after initiation. Sooner, even. After all, we're a team. We need to be honest with each other. We shouldn't keep any secrets. And so... that's on me."

There was silence as the team digested this news. Finally, Nora broke the silence. "This… isn't the first time I've gotten tunnel vision like that."

She hesitated as Pyrrha and Jaune looked at her, prompting Ren to sit next to her and put his hand over hers. Nora gave him a weak smile before continuing. "It's... something that started happening when I awakened my Semblance. I'd just get… fixated on a target, and ignore everything else. It happened a lot more often, too. Back then I stood an even chance of slipping into that state every time I fought. I-I thought I had licked it, Ren..." She grasped his hand firmly. "Ren really helped me with it, but..." She trailed off helplessly.

"General Xiao Long?" Jaune prompted softly.

Nora nodded sadly. "I just... she praised me so much and I wanted to do my best so that I could impress her and I've always fought _way_ better whenever I black out, even though the consequences could sometimes... be a bit..." Nora bit her lip and looked away.

Silence hung over the group once more until someone broke it.

"I suppose I should make a confession, too," Pyrrha stated. "I'm sure you've all guessed this already, but I've never fought as part of a team. I've never even fought with a partner. My training, my bouts, they were all about one-on-one or multiple-on-one. I… didn't think it would be a problem, transitioning into a team. I was..." She shook her head sadly. "I was wrong about that, I see that now."

There was another moment of silence.

"Uh, should I do a confession, too?" Ren asked tentatively.

"Nah, nah, you're good." Jaune chuckled weakly as he waved his hands hastily. "I'd tell you to work on your temper a bit, but considering what you've had to put up with over the last week I'm surprised you held on this long."

That got a rueful chuckle out of him, one that quickly proved infectious. Soon, all of Team JNPR was laughing heartily at themselves, at how much they had let simple problems get out of control. It was good. It was cathartic. And when it died down, all four of them felt relaxed for the first time in a long while.

"Heheh... heh..." Jaune wiped a tear out of his eye before grimacing as a thought struck him. "Uh, for the record, are any of you guys going to go to Ozpin or Goodwitch? Because..."

"No."

"Of course not!"

"Nope!"

"Oh, good," Jaune sighed in relief as he slumped in his seat. "Because seriously, I think that I committed fraud, and if Goodwitch didn't kill me, I think either my family or the people in prison would have finished the job."

That prompted another round of laughter from the team that Jaune reluctantly joined in on. Finally, once the laughter died down and they all settled in, the awkward silence returned in full.

Ultimately, it was Nora who broke it. "So... what do we do now?"

Jaune bit his lip for a second before standing up and clapping his hands. "Now? Now we train." He looked at Nora. "Are you _certain_ you and Ren can get these… blackouts under control again?"

Nora nodded. "We've done it before. We can do it again."

"Good. That's your project. Get those under control again before we have another combat session."

"Will do, leader! Oh! Ren, we can also work on your stamina!"

"Terrific," Ren groaned, remembering old sessions of stamina training. "Just… no captured Ursas this time, please."

Chuckling lightly at the image that conjured, Jaune turned to Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, you and I will be working together to get me up to speed on everything I didn't get at Signal," he said. "I mean, I don't even know what I don't know!"

"I will be happy to do that, Jaune," Pyrrha replied. "But… how are we going to work on my teamwork, then?"

"Well, I wanted to set up some sort of exercise where all four of us would fight something, but I still haven't figured that out," Jaune admitted sheepishly. "Instead, we'll do two-on-two practice bouts, and keep switching up the partners. That should help all of us, I think."

The plan is greeted by nods all around. Ren asked the question on everyone's minds.

"So, when do we start?"

"Right now," Jaune answered, a confident grin on his face. He glanced at Nora's sleepwear again and sighed. "Or, at least, once Nora changes."

 **~o~**

Silence had fallen on Team CFVY's room. Fox had plugged in his headphones and was listening to his music again, Yatsuhashi was running some maintenance on his blade, and Velvet was sitting by the window watching the clouds. Coco, for her part, was pondering the whiteboard, as if some great insight would jump out of it.

The Dust stockpile… they had assumed it was for illicit groups. Rebels or criminals or the Fang themselves. But what if it was sent to legitimate organizations? Maybe-

"Hey, Coco?"

The leader blinked as Velvet's voice pierced through her brainstorm. She growled in frustration as the thought floated away on the wind, never to be retrieved. "What is it, Velvet?" She groaned.

"I think you should come see this." The faunus was standing near the window, gesturing towards the courtyard outside.

Coco sighed wearily before striding towards the window. "If Team PRWK is exercising without their shirts again, I thank you for thinking of me, but this isn't the best of times. Next time just take some high-definition pictures and..." She trailed off as she actually saw what had caught Velvet's attention. "Show them to me later... Well well well, would you look at that." Coco grinned as she leaned on the window frame.

"Huh? What is it?" Fox asked as he slipped his headphones off. "Is Team Beefcake practicing again? Because if so, I'll just be anywhere but here so as to avoid the copious amounts of drool you'll no doubt soon be producing."

Coco's grin grew another inch. "Nooot quite."

Yatsuhashi leaned over the pair and grinned at what he saw. "Good for them."

On the field just outside the dorms was the sight of Ren and Jaune getting steadily pounded into the dirt by Nora and Pyrrha. Still, the two boys were giving a good show of themselves. Jaune was doing an admirable job keeping Nora's attention, while Ren had discarded his weapons at some point to better take on Pyrrha.

"Oh, nice," Coco whistled as a swing from Nora _curved_ around Jaune's guard to smash into his aura barrier.

"Well, they seem to have worked out their problems," Velvet said. "You think we should ask them now?"

Coco pondered that for about a minute. "Nah, let's give them some more time." Down in the courtyard, Pyrrha and Nora were celebrating their victory while Ren talked to Jaune, probably some pointers if the latter's nods of comprehension were anything to go by. "I don't think they're _quite_ ready yet. We'll talk to them when they are. With any luck, that shouldn't take too long."

As they watched, new teams formed. This time Nora was working with Jaune, while Ren paired up with Pyrrha. And then they were at it again.

"Yup..." Coco's grin widened to a full-blown smirk as Jaune locked his swords with Ren's blades. "Not too long at all."

 **~o~**

Late at night, on a low rooftop of downtown Vale, just barely visible if you squinted at the right spot, sat two splotches of uncharacteristic color. The spots of black and red stood out quite nicely from the concrete gray that was the standard color scheme of the great city.

The red figure rummaged around in her voluminous cloak for a minute, drawing out a small paper bag.

"Cookie?" Ruby Rose offered to the other figure.

Blake Belladonna cocked an eyebrow as she stared at the proffered confection. "You, the greatest crime lord in the world, are offering me, the greatest terrorist in history, a cookie. I think that most all law enforcement officers would go mad at the revelation if they could see this scene."

"So is that a no or-," Ruby sang as she inched the cookie away from Blake.

" _Gimme!"_ Blake yelled, all decorum forgotten as she snatched the cookie from Ruby's fingers and shoved it into her mouth. The faunus couldn't help but shiver in delight as she chewed.

Ruby's eye twitched uncomfortably as she watched her friend appear to melt onto the roof. "Are you... _purring?"_

"Shut up, it's not my fault you always have the best cookies..." Blake moaned. "It's still warm. It's at times like these that I love your Semblance." Her expression turned thoughtful as she continued chewing. "These taste familiar. Where did you get them?"

"Remember Antonio's?" Ruby said as she fished another cookie out of the bag. "I swung by to pick up some of them up." She took a bite out of the cookie and squealed in delight. "Oh, Dust, they're as good as I remember!"

Now it was Blake's turn to look askance at her partner. "Are you… crying?"

 _"S-shut up!"_ Ruby stammered. "You were _purring_! I-I'll tell Yang a-and she won't stop petting you for a month!"

Blake went stock-still as her eyes widened in horror. "The calluses... the _calluses..."_ She breathed numbly before directing a sharp glare at her friend. "You _w_ ouldn't _dare,_ Rose."

Ruby didn't flinch, matching Blake's gaze. "Don't test me, Belladonna."

They held the stare for what felt like an eternity...

Until Ruby slowly held up the bag. "Another cookie?" she asked.

Blake eyed her suspiciously for a second before slowly taking the peace offering for what it was. "Don't mind if I do."

They both chewed on their cookies in companionable silence for a few minutes until Ruby spoke up.

"So, about Adam..."

"Hm?" Blake hummed inquiringly around her cookie.

"Have you tapped that yet?"

"HRK!?" Blake choked and hacked frantically as she inhaled half of the baked good in less than a second. "W-what!?" She finally managed to get out.

"Have you tapped that yet," Ruby repeated slowly. "You know, bumping uglies? The horizontal monster mash? Waxed his candle? Loaded his clown into your-?"

"NO!" Blake finally interrupted, her face burning a brilliant shade of crimson. "Just- no! Good lord, no! That's- that's just..." She let a horrified shudder run the length of her body. "W-Where did you even _hear_ half of those anyway?!"

"Eh, some from Yang, some from Torchwick, a little everywhere else." Ruby shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"I should have figured..." The Faunus growled under her breath. "Anyways, me and Adam do _not_ have that kind of relationship."

"Ooooh." Ruby nodded slowly in understanding. "Why the heck not!?"

Blake's ears twitched in numb shock. "Excuse me?"

"He-llo, are you _blind?"_ Ruby demanded. "The man is a six-foot tall _god!_ Every inch of him looks like it was chiseled from a single block of marble, his voice is unparalleled, and have you even _seen_ that mouth-watering rack he calls his abs? I swear sometimes I just want to take a bottle of barbeque sauce and-!"

By this point, Blake had folded her ears against her head in an effort to tune out Ruby's words, though she couldn't help but watch as her friend's hands moved about in a _very_ descriptive manner. "I'm not hearing this... I'm _not_ hearing this..." She muttered under her breath as her eye twitched furiously.

Finally, Blake managed to snap herself out of her stupor once Ruby started making a repeated motion with her fist she did _not_ want to contemplate. "W-w-well, what about Torchwick!?" She attempted to rally desperately. "Are you saying you're not interested in him?"

Ruby ceased her ministrations in favor of shuddering in revulsion. "Eww, Blake! Why did you have to give me _that_ image!? First, Roman's a _beanpole._ He has, like, _zero_ muscle mass. I could break him over my knee if I tried. And second? He's _Neo's_ property. Everyone knows that! My sister and I are headstrong, that doesn't mean we're suicidal!"

Blake looked skeptically at the sniper. "I'm pretty sure you could take her. Hell, I'm pretty sure _I_ could take her."

Ruby gave her age-old friend a flat look. "Are you _really_ willing to take that bet?"

Blake opened her mouth to respond…

"When she's pissed off and looking to have some, quote-unquote, 'fun'?"

Then froze as she _really_ thought about what she was saying. She promptly shut her mouth with a click and a heavy shiver as an image of the tri-toned woman's trademark (where she'd gotten the cash, no one dared ask) smile flashed through her mind. "On second thought, no, no I am _not_."

"That's what I thought." Ruby nodded definitively as she got another cookie.

"B-Besides, you've seen my book collection. That's all I need, really," Blake rallied desperately.

Ruby gave her friend a sidelong look. "Bleah," she spat, her tongue sticking out childishly. "Really wish I hadn't."

Blake raised a questioning eyebrow. "And just what is _that_ supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"Nothing, just that you could... stand to reinforce the quality of your literature is all."

"Excuse me?!" Blake snapped. " _Ninjas of Love_ is a great series! The author crafted an entirely new, expansive world and an entire combat system from whole cloth! A quality one, I might add, that at least tries to have its fights be won by brains rather than who can cause the bigger explosion! The characters are astoundingly complex, if you bother to look past the surface characteristics, and the plot is sublime! What I read is-!"

"Smut." Ruby deadpanned. "Blatant, high-quality, well-publicized smut. And you know it."

Blake's jaws flapped helplessly for a second before huffing and looking away. "Well, at least I don't _molest_ my weapon whenever I'm feeling lonely."

" _You leave Crescent Rose out of this!"_ Ruby snapped furiously.

Blake made to chuckle before pausing and giving her friend a searching look. "Isn't your line supposed to be 'it was just that one time'?"

Ruby's face was caught between paling and flushing to extreme degrees, evening out to an unhealthy-looking purple. "Uuuuuh..."

Blake smirked. Now the bullet was in the other Beowulf. "Look, if you're that desperate for companionship, then I suppose I could be persuaded to lend you Adam for a week."

Ruby finally settled on blushing furiously as she slammed another cookie into her mouth. "Ohgodpleasestoptalking."

The smirk turned into a full-blown Cheshire grin, but she didn't say anything, merely leaning back against an air-conditioning unit. The two settled back into silence as Ruby fought down her blush.

Finally, Ruby's hand went in for another cookie only to hit the bottom of the bag. Turning it upside down only yielded a few crumbs.

"Aw, we're out," she whined.

"So we are," Blake observed neutrally, her smug grin still in place.

"You have no appreciation of how _important_ this is," Ruby grumbled. "I mean, these cookies basically made us friends!"

Blake stared at Ruby flatly before sighing heavily as she walked towards the edge of the roof and sat down, her legs dangling over the harmless abyss. "Yeah, they did, didn't they?" She mused.

Ruby's expression softened. Slowly, she seated herself next to her old companion, eyes staring off into the distance as her mind travelled back... back to when it all began.

 **~o~**

 _"Dang it, sis, when did you get so_ heavy _," a young Ruby Rose groaned as she struggled to support her sister's mass, the venom in her voice only half-hearted._

 _"I gots lots o'muscle," Yang replied, her words slurring slightly against her will. "Punch people fr' a livin', y'kn-ow!" She suddenly yelped, flinching away from her sister. "Hey, watch the bruises. I got a lot o' 'em."_

 _"I noticed..." Ruby grumbled as she adjusted the overlarge, age-worn jacket she was wearing over a tank top and pants._

 _Maneuvering gingerly around a pothole, Ruby scanned her surroundings again, both from her developing combat instincts and sheer 'Are we there yet?' annoyance. It was a cold autumn night in Vale, the kind of night where most of Vale's citizens were huddled in front of a fire in their homes rather than out and about._

 _Not that most of Vale's citizens would want to be in this particular neighborhood even on a warm summer day. Once a mixed commercial-residential district, it had gone downhill in the last decade. The stores were boarded up, their glass windows in pieces on the sidewalk, the road, at the bottom of the city's list for repair, was cracked and liberally dotted with potholes, and only half the streetlights worked._

 _"Uhhh… p-plese sis! I feel fine… 'cept that don't matter much cause I'm always hot… heheheh- urp!" Yang's chuckle turned into an uncomfortable gurgle as she clamped her hand over her mouth, though thankfully nothing came out. "Actually, I don't feel that hot..."_

 _Indeed, the blonde was covered in mottled spots of blue, and a few of yellow, at least judging from what skin wasn't covered by a threadworn sweater and tattered longcoat. Not to mention a layer of everyday grime, and another of soot and dust. And also swaying rather heavily. Sighing again, Ruby caught Yang on one of her downward movements, slipping under her shoulder to support her again._

 _"C'mon, sis, we're almost there," Ruby pleaded. "Just stay on your feet a little longer!"_

 _Yang's answer was mumbled into incomprehensibility, but she stayed on her feet long enough for the two to stagger up to Ruby's destination: a wood-faced bar, the material worn but cared for. Hanging above the door was a sign declaring the establishment's name to all who walked by: Antonio's._

 _Now Ruby was faced with her greatest challenge yet._

 _"How am I gonna open the door?" she groaned. "I've still got to support Yang..." She glanced around the area, not seeing any benches. Then a thought occurred to her._

 _Shifting the weight of her older sister, she propped Yang up on the wall of the bar. "Come on, stay on your feet…" she breathed, letting out a sigh of relief as the wall kept Yang upright, if barely._

 _Going back to the door, she pulled it open, testing it to make sure it would stay that way. Satisfied that it would stay open without a doorstop, she hauled Yang onto her shoulder again and entered the bar._

 _Unsurprisingly, it was largely empty of people, the vast majority of the varnished tables unoccupied and most of the chairs stacked up against the wall. The bartender was slumped on a stool at the end of the bar, seemingly asleep, but the sisters' entrance prompted him to open an eye to look at them. He went back to sleep after a few seconds, but the message was clear: don't cause any trouble._

 _The lone occupied table, the one closest to the door, held only two people, a pair of teenage girls. One was a black-haired Faunus, probably a cat from the ears and golden eyes, dressed in an outfit of black and white that was suspiciously clean and well-made. The other was a gray-haired girl, covered in grime and in a travelling outfit that must have been quite nice at some point in its life but was now frayed, dirty, and worn._

 _Ruby scanned the bar again for another table that actually had some chairs. No dice._

 _"'M gonna hurl… I think…" Yang groaned._

 _That settled it. Ruby hauled Yang, who was increasingly dead weight, to the table, dropping the blond unceremoniously into the nearest chair. And just in time, too, as she let out a dry heave._

 _"I'm really sorry," Ruby apologized hastily. "It's just that she's had a rough night and she's been to... uh..." She glanced at Yang's wrist, trying to make anything out from the bruising on her battered limb. "I... can't really tell how many clubs, to be honest, though she's definitely been to a lot of bars..."_

 _"What gave it away, the bruises or the smell?" the black-haired girl deadpanned._

 _Ruby looked stared at her in confusion._

 _"That was a joke," she said. Ruby continued staring for a second, before her eyes widened in comprehension and she let out a giggle._

 _"Oh, th-that was a good one."_

 _"No it wasn't." The gray-haired girl drawled flatly._

 _"Weiss…"_

 _"What? It's the truth!" The just-named Weiss snapped back defensively._

 _The black-haired girl opened her mouth as if to argue, but visibly restrained herself._

 _"Heh... was kinda funny..." Yang managed to wheeze before hunching over again as her face became an unhealthy shade of gray. "Please don't do it again. Laughing burns..."_

 _The black-haired girl sighed, getting up from her chair. "I'm gonna see if I can get her a ginger ale. It might help a bit."_

 _Ruby watched the girl go, then turned back to Weiss. "So, uh, I'm Ruby Rose, and this is my sister Yang Xiao Long. It's nice to meet you, miss..." She trailed off expectantly._

 _"Weiss Sch-uh…" Weiss briefly looked panicked before settling her features back into apathetic grumpiness. "Just Weiss."_

 _Ruby blinked. "Oookay… and, uh, who's your friend?" Ruby nodded her head towards the other girl, who was rousing the bartender._

 _"She's… uh, she's…" Weiss stammered. Ruby waited expectantly for her to continue, but the gray-haired girl didn't elaborate._

 _The awkward silence was broken by the black-haired girl placing an opened bottle of ginger ale in front of Yang, who was just lucid enough to sit up at the sound, though her eyes were rather unfocused._

 _"Drink this," the faunus ordered. "It'll make your stomach feel better."_

 _Yang reached for the bottle and missed. Frowning lightly, she made another grab and another miss. She was about to make another one when the black-haired girl let out a huff and pressed it into her hands._

 _"I'm Blake Belladona," she introduced herself as she sat down, casting a light glare at Weiss, who flinched slightly but nevertheless met the look head-on. Ruby's head swivelled back and forth, frantically looking between the two as the tension level began to ratchet up._

 _A platter of chocolate chip cookies interrupted the staring contest by getting placed on the table between them. Ruby's eyes widened and saliva began to collect in her mouth as the aroma hit, and she looked up at the server, her eyes questioning._

 _"They're on the house," the bartender said in a voice like crunching gravel. "You girls all look like you could use a pick-me-up."_

 _Ruby immediately grabbed two cookies, stuffing them in her mouth bare milliseconds afterward. As she saw Weiss and Blake also take a cookie each, somehow she knew that they would get along._

 **~o~**

The two Strategos snapped back to reality, identical smiles on their faces.

"Those were good times, weren't they." Blake stated.

"Yeah. So much simpler than now, back when it was just the four of us," Ruby replied. "Of course, I don't miss surviving on beans and rice."

Blake let out a sharp bark of laughter at that. "Oh, Remnant, I remember that time. Poor Weiss, her digestive system was not used to that."

Ruby's laughter joined Blake's at the memory, the sound drifting across the rooftops.

"So, is Adam in position yet?" Ruby asked as the laughter subsided.

"He should be there any-"

The building across the street from where the two had been relaxing suddenly erupted, the entire structure shaking and shuddering as an explosion tore through the twelfth floor. Flames and smoke billowed out through the shattered windows as though the floor housed the very depths of hell itself.

"-minute. Man, I need to learn how to stop underestimating him. When I let him off the leash, he... really..." Blake frowned as something caught her eye. "Delivers... what the heck...?"

Ruby knew that look. For all her own visual acuity, Blake still outclassed her at night. "What did you see?"

"I'm… not sure," Blake hedged. "It was just a blur, but it could have been... I'm not really sure _what_ it was. Could be nothing." She glanced over to Ruby. "Your call."

Ruby bit her lip in thought before shaking her head definitively. "We check it out. Nothing gets left to chance. Lead the way."

The two Strategos set off across the rooftops to where Blake had seen the blur in the first place. There, wedged into another air conditioning unit, was a person. Blackened, smoking and smouldering, admittedly, but still vaguely recognizable as human, if only by shape. As they landed, Blake could hear the nearly inaudible sound of the person breathing.

"Alive, if only just." Blake stated tonelessly.

Ruby only nodded slightly. "No witnesses," she said. "Plus, I… think we'd be putting him out of his misery."

"... Actually, that's a she."

Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she glanced between the faunus and the near-corpse. They widened even further when the pile of charred flesh began to stir and moan.

"H-help... me... p-please..."

"Oh yeah, definitely a favor."

The pair glanced at one another before sticking out their fists, raising and dropping their hands three times in a row. Ruby's hand remained a fist, whereas Blake stuck out her pointer and middle fingers in a v-shape. The faunus hung her head in defeat while Ruby sighed in relief.

She then snapped Crescent Rose off of her back and fired a round into the person's head.

Blake grumbled as she slid Gambol Shroud out of its sheath. "Ten?"

"Make it twelve. I won a lottery with a ticket that had three twelves on it."

"Won it or rigged it?"

"There's a difference?"

"... The fact that you're honestly confused _scares_ me."

And with that, the pair turned around while two shadows split off of Blake and got to work.

The crimelords grit their teeth as they tried their best to ignore the frankly disturbing sounds that were originating behind them. They swayed on their heels, wrung their hands, averted their gazes left and right, but the sounds just continued to come.

Finally, Ruby broke the silence. "We did that person a favor."

"They wouldn't have lived long in the ICU. Two weeks, tops."

"Three, if we're being really generous and they got a good hospital. And if they didn't ask for the plug to be pulled from the pain."

"And it was necessary too. They could have seen us together, we couldn't risk that."

"Right, of course, of course. ... hey, Blake?"

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"Are we bad people?"

"Uh...?"

"For justifying this I mean. Does this make us... you know, worse people?"

"I... don't think so? I mean, we have rational reasons, this _was_ a necessary precaution, and it's not like either of us like doing this... right?"

The two stared at each other contemplatively for a second before glancing over their shoulders. They promptly snapped their gazes forwards again.

" _Definitely_ not." Blake shuddered.

"I think I'm going to be sick..." Ruby groaned.

"To be fair, burns always make it worse."

"Eurgh… I'll never look at pork the same way again…"

"Oh come on, don't make me make that connection _damn it there go chili dog Sundays."_

"... Hey, Blake?"

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"If... I ever start to slip... If I start to become a worse person..."

"Butter knife right between the C2 and C3 before you even knew what hit you."

"Ah, great, thanks."

"Any time, just make sure you return the favor."

"Of course, of course. ... Sooo, they almost done?"

"Uhh..." Blake glanced over her shoulder again before sighing in relief. "Yes. Thank _god_ I learned how to make these things not feel anything on a whim."

"Oh, good, because it looks like our minions have found each other."

Blake immediately scrambled to the edge of the rooftop to join Ruby in peering down at the street below.

There, standing not two feet from each other and both surrounded by half a dozen street-level thugs each, were Adam Taurus and Roman Torchwick in some sort of discussion.

The White Fang thugs were in their standard uniform: black pants, gloves, and hoods, with the white vests and Grimm masks. Each carried a pistol at the hip.

The Crimson Thorn thugs were more eclectically equipped; aside from the gray hooded sweatshirts with red thorn patterns, each was wearing decked out in different clothing and accessories and carried a different weapon, ranging from street-standard red cleavers to, in one case, a full-on automatic shotgun. Where he had gotten that was a mystery.

"That is an astoundingly civil conversation for those two," Blake observed as Roman started jabbing his index finger into Adam's chest.

"Yeah, Roman looks more annoyed about all the dust and smoke getting his outfit dirty than the fact that Adam isn't kissing his ass," Ruby added.

"And Adam hasn't turned Roman's skeleton into a pack of toothpicks over Roman touching him." Blake nodded in agreement.

"Huh. This is actually going pretty well. I think that this could go off without a- what the hell is my guy doing?" Ruby's enthusiastic summary fell into an annoyed deadpan as one of the Crimson Thorns began gesticulating wildly, almost as if-

"Oh, he's milking a giant cow. That's original." Blake drawled.

"I had _nothing_ to do with that, I gave them _explicit_ orders to be on their best behavior." Ruby ground out.

"Of course not. You're not an _idiot_. Though, it seems you could stand to work on disciplining your _thugs_ just a bit more. I mean, look at my men." Blake gestured at her side. "My soldiers are trained, disciplined, determined..."

"One of them just punched mine in the face." Ruby deadpanned.

" _What!?"_ Blake demanded.

"Aaaand now he's kicking him while he's down. Oof!" Ruby winced in sympathy. "Crotch shot. From a guy who I think is part goat. He's not having kids anytime soon, that's for damn sure."

Blake hastily checked her mental roster before hissing in annoyance. "Arpelio, you _imbecile."_

"It's okay, Adam's pulling him off my guy," Ruby reassured her. "Boy, he looks pissed. I think he's actually _snorting_. That's not racist, right? It's not racist to comment on it if they're actually doing it?" Ruby turned her head to question her friend... and promptly snapped her gaze elsewhere as she listened to the furious hissing said friend was letting out. "Never mind."

"I swear to everything good in this world I'm going to skin that scrawny bastard alive and dip him in salt..." Blake snarled.

"Same for that guy." Ruby nodded her head down at her group as Torchwick hauled the yet-animated goon to his feet. "I might not be able to hear what he's saying, but a _lot_ of those hand signs are _really_ universal."

Blake continued muttering sadistically under her breath for a moment before suddenly falling silent.

"Hm?" Ruby blinked and glanced to the terrorist in surprise. "Blake?"

The faunus narrowed her eyes down at the street as the two parties headed their separate ways. "Do you think this could have been planned?"

Ruby opened her mouth to object, but then closed it as she mulled over the idea. Ultimately, however, she shook her head firmly. "No, just bad luck. We had two overzealous xenophobes amongst our ranks that apparently none of us were aware of and they both just so happened to start mouthing off. Sure, I can see Torchwick being insensitive behind closed doors, but he knows that I'd gut him in a second if he ever said it where I could hear him or when it could jeopardize our operations, so he definitely wouldn't do it. This was just bad, dumb, _stupid_ luck. Nothing more, nothing less. Okay?"

Blake continued glaring down at the street for a moment, then let out a sigh. "Fine," she said, turning away from the edge of the roof. "But I'm going to look into it anyway. Just in case."

"Sure, sure," Ruby waved her friend off airily. "I'll be working my guy over too, so we can compare notes when we're... done, wait a second..." Ruby trailed off as she started stroking her chin in thought. "Yeah... yeah, that could work..."

"Ruby?"

The crimson-clad gangster shot her comrade a cold grin. "I think I've got an idea..."

 **~o~**

The pair of black armored cars with tinted windows drew relatively little attention as it rolled down the street. Most of the citizenry simply dismissed it as a pack of fat cat industrialists spooked by all the recent violence. It was a reasonable reaction. After all, they were spooked too.

Thus, no one was really paying attention when they slipped into a wide alleyway, common in downtown Vale to allow military vehicles to bypass blocked streets, and out of sight.

The cars came to a halt near a back door, a flickering sign above with the name _The Carline Montello Restaurant_ spelled out in Dust and neon. The driver's side door of the lead car opened, letting a man in a black suit, built like a refrigerator and sporting an impressive full-facial beard, step out. A particularly keen-eyed observer would have noted that the backs of his hands were unusually hairy.

The driver, after a quick scan of the alleyway, moved over to the passenger door and opened it, moving out of the way. Blake stepped out, clad in a black, high-collared cheongsam in a gray trim. The slits along the legs extended to about mid-thigh, tastefully exposing her lower legs. A black bow of shiny silk covered her ears.

Following her out of the car was Adam, who against Blake's exasperated judgement, was still in his usual trenchcoat-and-mask combo, though in deference to the occasion he had donned a far less memorable domino mask. Signalling the driver, the two walked to the back of the car and opened up the trunk.

At another hand signal, the other car's doors opened, disgorging a half-dozen White Fang mooks, looking distinctly uncomfortable in their suits and hats. All of them were watching and whispering in curiosity as Adam and Mallah retrieved a battered individual with his wrists restrained by zipties and a veritable canvas of bruises over every inch of exposed skin. A piece of duct tape over his mouth sufficed as a gag.

The two plopped him down on his feet in front of Blake, who fixed him with a pointed glare. "You will walk, guided by Mallah, under your own power. If you attempt any _other_ forms of stupidity, Adam will deal with you. Am I clear?" Arpelio didn't say anything, far too busy shaking like a leaf. "I said, _am I clear?_ "

The goat faunus frantically nodded his head in affirmative.

"Good. Move. Now."

With their last member securely trussed up, the small party entered the restaurant, Adam taking point while the driver brought up the rear, Arpelio forced to frogmarch ahead of him by the heavier faunus' grip, and the remaining troops trailing behind.

They didn't get far before a blue-clad waiter entered the hallway. "Greetings. You are Miss Belladonna, I presume?" At the nod, he walked over to the wall and depressed a specific panel, causing part of the wall to slide away to reveal a hallway lined in blue velvet. "Miss Rose is waiting for you in the dining area. But before you go, I must ask that you turn over your weapons." His eyes scanned over the group, particularly lingering on Adam's blatantly-displayed sword.

Adam snorted in derision. "Do you seriously expect us to walk in there unarmed?" He demanded, his hand drifting slightly towards the hilt.

The waiter didn't bat an eyelid, merely scoffing good-naturedly. "Of course not, I'm not an imbecile. Miss Rose simply insists that I uphold tradition by _asking_ you. Besides, any weapons on you would make little difference. Armed or unarmed, either way you would still be dead within seconds if you attempted to start any trouble."

Adam looked skeptical, but he did remove his hand from his weapon's hilt... after he noticed Blake shooting him a pointed glare out of the corner of his eye.

If the waiter noticed the byplay, he gave no indication. "Excellent. If you would follow me, please?"

It was not long before the velvet-lined hall terminated in a large dining room, dominated by several large, round tables with wine glasses and place settings, each surrounded by a circle of plush chairs. The walls were made of imported - and thus very expensive - Atlesian hardwoods, decorated at regular intervals by oil paintings of some of the restaurant's prior clients.

Sitting down facing the doorway was Ruby, wearing a very nice red and black suit, a black fedora with a red band on the table in front of her. To her right sat Torchwick, looking bored; he too hadn't bothered to change out of his usual outfit, though in fairness his attire was very well suited for the setting. One other person sat near her, next to Torchwick; Blake recognized him as the troublemaker from the previous night.

Besides the three at the center table were a dozen goons at a side table wearing red and black suits, the red rose of the Crimson Thorns prominently featured on belt sashes. From the way they perked up as Blake and her entourage entered the room, they were probably a cut above the usual street-level Thorns.

Speaking of which, the troublemaker looked distinctly uncomfortable despite not wearing a tie with his suit. Admittedly, his discomfort might have had something to do with either the fact that his arms were restrained behind the back of his chair, the fact that what little skin of his was visible was badly bruised and bleeding, or the fact that there were balled up... _undergarments_ shoved between his teeth.

"Miss Rose," Blake nodded in acknowledgement at the crimelord. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Same to you, Miss Belladonna! I've heard great things about you!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly as Blake's group filed in. "You have to try the veal, it's the best in the city."

Adam let out an annoyed grunt under his breath as he eyed the table. A few of the Fang troops behind him bristled slightly.

Ruby glanced at him in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. "Ooooh shitbiscuits..." she slowly ground out.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Adam's just being difficult." Blake waved the crimelord's concerns off as she settled into the chair next to Ruby. A quick hand signal sent her men off to another table. Away from the Crimson Thorn mooks. "He doesn't mind. In fact, he'll have a double-serving _and_ clean his plate." She shot a glare at her second-in-command. " _Won't he?"_

Adam seemed to fight with himself as his jaw twitched furiously before he finally settled on giving a grunt that might have been of assent as he sank into the seat next to Blake.

"Close enough," Blake shrugged, taking a menu. She scanned down it, letting out low murmurs of thought as she did so. "How's the sole?"

"Well, I don't think there's a bad dish in this restaurant," Ruby said in thought. "But it's definitely not their best dish."

"Eh, I'll give it a try," Blake said. "And no mushrooms, please. I'm not particularly fond of them."

"And I'll have the veal, as usual," Ruby said.

"I feel like a spaghetti vongole tonight," Roman added. He turned to address the driver. "Hey, big guy, are you going to order anything?"

"No." The large figure grunted as he forced Arpelio into one of the seats. Roman waited, but the man didn't say anything more.

"Monsieur Mallah is a faunus of few words." Blake explained as she handed her menu to one of the waiters. As he headed out of the room, another slipped in bearing a bottle of wine.

"Ah, thank you." Ruby held out her wineglass expectantly. As the liquid filled the glass, she contemplatively eyed the captive faunus. "So, Miss Blake, tell me... who's your friend?"

"Oh, him?" Blake affected a surprised tone, as if she hadn't known he was there, while the waiter filled her glass. "This is Arpelio. He's a...gift, if you will. I expect you've heard about the altercation between our members last night."

"Oh, so _he's_ the snot-nosed brat who broke Bronson's nose last night." Torchwick drawled, shooting a cocky smirk at the struggling goon next to him. "You hear that, Bronson? It looks like you're not alone on the stupid train after all! You've got a friend! Isn't that great?"

"Mm mmph!" The newly-named Bronson mumbled through his makeshift gag.

"Initially, I intended on executing this imbecile for his actions after I was finished punishing him." Blake mused, pausing as she took a sip of wine. "But then I thought... that wasn't my right. As much as he insulted the honor of the White Fang, he insulted you and yours far more gravely. As such, I'm giving him to you as a gift. You may execute him as you see fit."

"Well well..." Ruby grinned as she swirled her wineglass contemplatively. "It looks like great minds think alike. I had the same idea: why should I kill this dumbass when you no doubt have something far more creative in mind? Anyway, feel free to do whatever you like to him. Don't worry about getting blood on… well, don't worry about the blood. The _Montello_ has a very competent and very well paid cleaning staff."

"Good to know." Blake mused as she eyed the impassive waiter. "Anyways, if you'd like to start things off...?"

"Thank you!" Ruby smiled gratefully as she stood from her seat. "Oh, and if you could you take off that gag, please? I want to hear him for this."

Blake signalled Mallah, her eyes betraying her curiosity, who unceremoniously ripped off the tape. Arpelio almost let out a howl of pain, but managed to choke it down to a pained grunt, his eyes frantically swivelling between Ruby and Adam.

Thus he was in prime position to see Ruby chuck a small metal container right over his head, dousing him in some sort of fluid. Blake wrinkled her nose as the familiar stench hit her. Apparently, Arpelio recognized the smell as well, if the way he suddenly started squirming and protesting was anything to go by.

"NO! P-please, no! Don't! _Do-GAH!"_ He was silenced by a swift blow to the back of his head from Mallah. Several men from both organizations turned to see what the fuss was about, and began excitedly pointing in their direction.

"Hmm... say, now that I think about it... Miss Blake, would it be racist if I cooked him alive?" Ruby said, a lighter appearing in her hands as if by magic.

"I think you should really stop assuming that every comment or action involving animals and Faunus is racist," Blake deadpanned.

Ruby blinked, before her smile came back full force. "Oh, good. Then it's fine if I do this!" The lighter arced through the air, on a direct course to the goat Faunus. He tried to move, to get out of the way, to do _something_ , but Mallah's meaty hands kept his wrists behind his chair, immobilizing him. With no other course of action, he opened his mouth and took a breath to scream-

FWOOSH!

The lighter ignited the fluid, the flames rapidly spreading across his body - and into his open mouth. All the occupants were treated to the sight of Arpelio breathing fire, writhing and flailing in his chair for a moment before ultimately going limp. The corpse slumped back in the chair, still burning, before a waiter took a fire extinguisher to the blaze.

"Well." Blake cocked her eyebrow flatly. "I'm never going to be able to eat flambe again, so thank you for that."

"Aww, I thought that would last longer..." Ruby pouted childishly. "Thought he'd at least scream or something..."

While Mallah, Adam, and Torchwick had barely batted an eye at the scene, Bronson was quivering in his chair, his eyes like saucers. At least he hadn't wet himself.

Meanwhile, the whispering among the Thorn and Fang members intensified. One Fang trooper even got up out of his seat before one of his buddies frantically pulled him down.

"Your mistake was that you let him open his mouth before lighting him on fire," Blake stated, standing from her chair, pulling a long, thick needle from a garter attached to her leg as she went. "That let some of the fluid down his throat, so the fire had a path to his lungs. To put it simply, you were a bit too flashy."

Slowly, she started to walk around the table. "Sometimes, in our line of business..." She came to a halt behind Bronson, angling the needle above the back of his head. "It's more effective to employ a... subtle touch. Some... dare I say..." Barely taking a second to aim, Blake drove the needle into a spot barely an inch into the hairline. "Finesse."

Bronson's breathing immediately hitched, his eyes bulging and his tied hands trying to reach for his neck. Within seconds he started foaming at the mouth, a gurgling sound reaching from the back of his throat.

"Right at the base of the skull is a little nerve called the cervical cord," Blake explained, leaning on the back of the chair as Bronson continued to suffocate. "Just two inches from the surface of the skin. Poke something long and thin through those two inches, and the target will asphyxiate."

"Most of the time, whoever investigates thinks of poison. And so they never see that thin hole in the back of the head, never know they're pursuing a dead end. And without a means, they have no case. As for the victim... they're left struggling, wondering..." Blake smirked as she leaned in close to his ear. "Wondering why they just. Can't. _Breathe."_

Bronson gurgled along for another few seconds, his face turning increasingly blue, before slumping over, dead. Blake pulled the needle from the body, smoothing his hair over the little hole.

"And _that_ is how you kill someone slowly."

The sound of polite clapping filled the room as Ruby and Torchwick applauded her, the lower-level members from both organizations simply staring in awe. Blake leaned back, basking in the attention.

"My, I'm impressed, Miss Belladonna," Torchwick drawled. "That was masterful work. In fact, that gives me some ideas to take out a few… nuisances." He sighed wearily as he shrugged his shoulders. "I had to part ways with a rather reliable underling a while back, you see. It's been... stressful, to say the least, but hey!" He clapped his hands enthusiastically. "Let's get back on topic, huh?"

"And also remember who's in charge." Ruby gave her subordinate a flat glare, who innocently raised his hands in surrender.

At that moment a small gang of waiters bustled in from the hall. Two wielding body bags made a dignified beeline for the bodies, quickly and efficiently wrapping them up and hauling them out of the room, while the remainder headed for the tables, laying out steaming plates of food in front of all the diners. The smell was divine.

"So…" Blake said as she sat down in her chair. "Adam told me you want an alliance between our two organizations. I want to know why." Taking her knife and fork, she carved off a small slice of the fish and started eating.

Ruby sighed, reluctantly putting down her fork and its attached piece of veal. "Is it that hard to believe that I admire your goals for faunus equality and want to support you however I can?"

"You killed four dozen gangsters in one night because their organization refused to pay you protection money." Blake stated bluntly. "I highly doubt any insinuations about you having a conscience to speak of."

"Eh, worth a shot," Ruby shrugged. "Fine, the truth of the matter is that the governments have started to put pressure on my organization. Vale, Vacuo and Atlas are cracking down and Mistral is resisting my expansion attempts. I have a lot of product at the moment, but I can't so much as sell a bullet without police falling on me. If I want to continue running a profitable business, I need more manpower, more reliable troops. Meanwhile, the White Fang has plenty of soldiers on a global scale, while the main thing they primarily lack is resources. Am I wrong?"

"My troops are adequately equipped, thank you very much," Blake snapped irritably.

"And I'm not saying they aren't!" Ruby raised her hands defensively. "Just that their equipment _could_ stand to be of... shall we say... superior quality?"

Blake continued to glare at the crimeboss for a second before focusing her attention on her meal.

Ruby grinned successfully. "That's what I thought. What I'm proposing is that we work to solve one another's problems: I'll provide the White Fang with ammunition, weaponry, equipment, the whole nine yards, for _free._ Heck!" She shrugged indifferently. "I'll even provide you some of my men to help you with your work. Meanwhile, the White Fang will provide me with soldiers who will help reinforce all of my operations and guarantee that my stream of income remains both large and stable. An income that you yourself would profit from. I benefit, you benefit, we all come out of this nice and happy!"

Blake made a show of mulling it over as she slowly turned her gaze towards Ruby. "... What kind of weaponry are we talking about here?"

Ruby's grin slowly widened. "Military-grade, foisted from a variety of national armories across the globe. We can get into specifics at a later date. But for now..." She angled her wineglass towards the faunus. "Are you in or out?"

The entire restaurant seemed to hold their breath as they watched Blake study the proffered glass.

Another piece of sole was consumed in thought before Blake reached for her glass and delicately clinked it against Ruby's. "Miss Rose..." She grinned coyly. "I feel that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership."

As cheers arose from the occupants of the dining hall, Ruby and Blake's eyes locked and their smiles widened significantly. Even Torchwick and Adam found it in themselves to smirk successfully.

To most of those present, this was the start of something new. Something grand. Something _unprecedented._

To those four, this was just one more step in a grand scheme years in the making, whose end was finally in sight.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **AN: Credit to BlindingPhoenix over on Spacebattles for the design of the Quartermaster, and for letting us use that design. We will give you more screen time than he did, my dear.**

"-yanked my fist out, covered in a black, organic sludge, prize in hand!" Port demonstrated with a furious yanking motion, causing the onlooking class to jerk back in shock. The professor smiled joyously as he straightened his uniform. "And _that_ is the story of the time I dropped my wedding ring down the garbage disposal."

All eyes in the classroom flashed to the professor's hands, still on his uniform jacket, to the sight of no gold ring. Noticing their stares, Port chuckled jovially. "Oh, I only wear it at home. Too much of a risk of losing it if a Grimm took the finger, or the hand... or the arm. Remember, students, never wear into battle anything you aren't willing to lose! This includes necklaces, earrings, nose-rings, belt buckles..." He trailed off at the increasingly disturbed looks on his students' faces. "What? There is a high chance of disfigurement and dismemberment in this line of work! You all knew that coming in! Now then, where were we? Ah yes-!"

The students were spared any further elaboration when the end-of-class bell rang, sparking a flurry of activity as each student gathered up their materials into their bags.

"Bah, ah well. Anyways, remember, students, you have a joint ten-page essay due at the end of the week on tactics to use to take down a mixed pack of Beowolves and Ursa. And no newborns in the scenario, either! Remember, coordinate with your teammates, twenty percent of your grade depends on it!"

The stream of students flowing towards the door let out a few absent-minded acknowledgements, but were largely interested in getting out of class as fast as possible.

Coco, as usual, flowed through the crowd as if it wasn't there, Velvet following in her wake. Or perhaps shadow might have been a better word, considering how close the rabbit faunus was to her team leader's back.

It wasn't until the two were outside of the classroom, and thus the press of the crowd, that Velvet stepped out from behind Coco.

"One of these days you're not going to need me to help you get through that horde." Coco noted over her shoulder.

Velvet rolled her eyes. "I _highly_ doubt I'll ever go to as many clearance sales as you have, Coco."

"Nonsense! One of these you'll get in the habit, you'll see!"

"That's what I'm dreading..."

"In fact, let's get some practice in this weekend!" Coco suddenly flung her arm around Velvet's shoulders before she could react, or more specifically, escape, a slightly manic gleam glinting off the fashionista's shades. "I know for a fact that the stores all run sales during the Vytal Festival, so it's the perfect time! And this time you're not getting lost halfway through like last time."

Velvet gulped, feeling sweat bead on her brow. "R-right, lost... uh, t-that sounds… exciting! Yes, exciting." Her eyes frantically flicked back and forth, looking for _something_ that could distract her team leader. "S-so, uh-"

"Hey, Coco, Velvet! Can I, uh, talk to you guys for a minute?"

 _'Saved!'_ Velvet thought to herself. She didn't know why Jaune was here, but already she could see Coco's attention shifting to the blond. "Oh, hey, Jaune! What's up?"

"Uh, well, me and the rest of the team are heading down to the waterfront today, kinda take a break from all the training the we've been doing. Even Nora's getting worn down," he said, looking slightly confused, like he hadn't thought that was possible. "That, and Pyrrha's getting a bit antsy about the Vytal Tournament. She keeps muttering about 'scoping out the competition' and all that."

Coco slid her sunglasses down slightly to give a Jaune a flat stare. "And how do you have the free time to do that? Last I heard, you guys were still in the doghouse with Professor Goodwitch."

"We had another round of sparring in Professor Goodwitch's class," Jaune explained off-handedly. "We did a lot better, so she relaxed the restrictions she'd put on us. Anyway, do you guys want to come with us? It'll be like that Dust-shopping trip we went on back at the start of the semester," Jaune finished, a nervous grin on his face.

Coco slid her glasses back in place to hide the fact that she was seriously considering Jaune's offer. Still, despite the temptation, she was leaning towards no. They had too much to do, dammit, and she didn't just mean Port's essay.

A bony elbow digging into her back right below her shoulder blades shook Coco out of her thoughts. She spun around to give whoever did that a piece of her mind only to see- oh no.

"Can we go with them? Please?" Velvet pleaded, her voice and lower lip quivering and her eyes wide and watery.

 _'Shit, she's making the eyes. I can barely resist the eyes,'_ Coco groaned internally. _'At least she's not- oh god_ damn it _Velvet!'_ Her eye twitched as Velvet reached up, grabbed the ends of her secondary ears and yanked them below her chin, topping it all off with a slight tilt to her head.

"Please?" she repeated softly, almost whispering.

Coco's entire body quivered furiously as she fought every last urge that was screaming at her to grab her partner and... well, at least _half_ of her thoughts were rated PG, so that was a marked improvement. With a supreme effort of will, Coco collected her thoughts into one answer.

"Sorry, Velvet, but-!"

Almost instantly, Velvet's demeanor pulled a 180 as she dropped the cute act and put on a concerned expression. "Come on, Coco, we _need_ this! I mean, look at last night!"

"What are you... oh." Coco winced as her mind flashed back to a normally innocuous event from the previous night: Fox sharpening his blades.

 _'Did he ever stop?'_ she wondered. It was with increasing concern that she realized that she couldn't remember when he had stopped, though given that he hadn't been sharpening them in the morning he had stopped at some point.

And that caused her to remember the last time he had done that: day fifteen in a snowed-in cabin in the middle of nowhere. Try as she might, though, she couldn't recall what happened after that. Probably for the best, if the repair bill was anything to go by.

"You know what, Velvet?" Coco said, mentally congratulating herself for keeping her voice steady. "You're right. We've been cooped up in that room long enough. So, Jaune, where and when are we meeting up for this trip?"

The blond blinked numbly, trying to get his mind in order. "Hu-wah?"

Rolling her eyes, Coco snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hey, lover boy, she stopped doing it."

Jaune jerked and shook his head to banish the image of Velvet from his mind. "Uh, around three or so, at the landing pad. They're running flights into the city all day."

"Aren't the Mistral students arriving today?" Velvet whispered to her teammate.

"Yeah, they are, for the festival." Coco whispered back. "Must be what Pyrrha meant by scoping out the competition."

"Uh, what are you guys whispering about?" Jaune asked, frowning slightly.

"You'll see!" Coco replied in sing-song. "Anyway, we've got to change and get ready, and I'm sure you guys do, too, so we'll see you at the landing pad. Ta-ta!" And with that, the two set off down the hall back to their room, Velvet giving a goodbye wave over her shoulder.

"Uh... alright then?" Jaune blinked in confusion as he puzzled over the cryptic statement before shrugging it off. "Well... see you later then!" Jaune called as he set off down the hall in the other direction.

~o~

"So, remind me why we're bringing our weapons on a presumably peaceful trip to town?" Fox asked over the wind of the Bullhead's passage.

"Orders from Professor Goodwitch," Coco yelled back. "With all the robberies lately she wanted us all armed just in case. Which you would know if you hadn't had sharpening on your mind for the last two days!"

"Well, excuse me for being just a tad bored with sitting in our room all day," Fox muttered under his breath. Velvet's ear twitched in recognition, but she didn't break her animated conversation with Nora and Jaune about Magnhild.

"And one of the coolest features is that there's some gravity dust worked into the head to increase the mass right when it hits and decrease the mass when I swing. So I hit harder _and_ faster! It's the perfect combo!"

"Wait, how do you control the timing?" Velvet wondered. "I mean, the timing on the weight change would have to be really, really precise."

"Maybe that's why it's got all those weird letters carved into it," Jaune pointed out. "They're probably some ancient language that helps with controlling the Aura flow. I mean, you are infusing Magnhild with your Aura, right?"

Velvet and Nora blinked at Jaune, the shorter girl recovering first. "Wow, your lessons with Pyrrha really are paying off, because you're absolutely right! Those are runes, and they _do_ help control the gravity change. I don't know where they came from, but my family's been using them in our weapons for… for… a really long time!"

Velvet's eyes widened, staring at the other girl as she took that information in. "Nora," she breathed, her eyes boring into the other girl's grey ones. "Can I pick your brain on these 'runes' after this? It could really help me with a problem I have with my own weapon."

"Weeeellllll," Nora drew out, her customary grin turning a little sheepish. "I can't give you the whole alphabet - trade secrets and all that - but!" The smile returned full-force. "I'm sure that I can try and help you on whatever _specific_ problem you're having."

"Thank you!" Velvet cried, embracing the orange-haired valkyrie. "Oh, I've been having so much trouble with the dust control mechanisms, you have no idea how much this might help. Thank you."

"No problem!" Nora replied cheerfully, giving a thumbs-up. "Anything for a friend!"

"I do believe we're coming in for landing," Ren interjected. "So you guys might want to buckle up again."

Indeed, the Bullhead was beginning to descend, the buildings of Vale flashing by through the windows. Everyone who had unbuckled hastily reached for the leather straps, pulling them tight and into their buckles.

Thankfully, the landing was a smooth one, with none of the usual nausea-inducing bumps. As both teams disembarked from the aircraft, they noticed something unusual.

"That is a _lot_ of airships. A lot of _big_ airships," Jaune gulped.

"Atlesian military," Coco mused, taking in the heavily-armed and armored aerial transports. "They're probably here to provide security. Though, this is a lot more than necessary for a festival and student tournament."

"Do you think all those robberies have anything to do with it?" Ren asked.

"This is a lot more than necessary for a string of robberies, too. Like letting off a grenade to kill a mosquito," Coco answered dismissively. "Though it could just be someone up top overreacted. Bah, this is way too serious a topic. We're here to have fun! Let's just head into town, see the sea, scope out the Mistral students. That sort of thing."

With nods all around, the eight students set off for the waterfront. Unfortunately, they didn't get two blocks before being confronted with the sight of a burnt and blackened pile of rubble where a large office building should have been.

"What happened here?" Pyrrha breathed, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

Yatsuhashi cocked an eyebrow at her.

Coco rolled her eyes. "She means _how_ the fire started."

"Actually, I'm fairly sure this wasn't just a fire," Nora piped in. "If it was, the other buildings would be more damaged. This looks more like a controlled demolition. Or semi-controlled, at least. Or a controlled demolition that set off a lot of Dust, though that would probably level the entire block… hmm… hey, Velvet what do you think? Controlled or semi... Uhhh..." Nora trailed off as she turned to the rabbit faunus and found everyone except Ren staring at her in open-mouthed shock. "What?!"

"You… know a lot about explosives, Nora…" Jaune said, a nervous edge to his voice.

"Well, yeah, I want to be able to make my own custom grenades, and you gotta be certified to handle explosives like that, and that means a six-month course drilling every single safety precaution and then some into your head!" Nora panted heavily, her eyes wild. "One crossed wire, one wayward pinch of Burn Dust, one errant twitch, and kablooie!"

"I can confirm this," Ren added, raising his hand. "She blew herself up three times taking that course. And that was just the homework."

Silence descended upon the group as they all digested Nora's outburst. Coco, scanning the street, broke the silence when she spotted a bored-looking police officer standing in front of the yellow tape encircling the wreckage of the building.

"So, that was very informative, Nora, but I think I'm going to go ask that police officer about this. Okay? Okay." Without waiting for a reply, she marched over towards the policeman as fast as she could without looking like she was running, because people like her did _not_ run. They merely... advanced in the direction opposite whatever was terrifying the shit out of them.

As Coco got closer, the officer focused his gaze on her but didn't say anything or wave her off, which she took as her cue to keep going. "So, officer, as a concerned citizen, you mind telling me what the heck happened here?"

The officer sighed, clearly torn between not revealing potentially sensitive information and sheer, utter boredom. Boredom won out. "Damn White Fang happened, that's what. They left their symbol on one of the buildings." His eyes flicked over to Velvet and her prominent ears. "When this gets out, things're probably gonna get pretty ugly for any faunus in the city. Last estimate I heard on the body count was north of a hundred. We're having a hard time identifying individuals in all of this."

"I can imagine," Coco deadpanned. "Let me try and predict the future for you: Some faunus catch heat for this, the people who gave them heat get strung up, then things die down again until the Fang strikes again. How am I doing so far?"

The officer slowly clapped his hands. "Give the woman a prize, she just described my next week in a few sentences." He fixed Coco with a slight glare. "Now get out of here. I don't want to get yelled at by the sergeant for letting you distract me."

Coco took the dismissal for what it was and made her way back to the group. More importantly, to a stony-faced Velvet.

She sighed wearily and readjusted her sunglasses. "You heard everything, didn't you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Not… everything," Velvet corrected flatly, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. "But enough. Enough to know exactly what those bastards did." There was a faint sound of grinding enamel. "Why? Why did they do this?"

Why… such a loaded question. Coco chose her next words very carefully. "The company that owned the building… they were one of the leading Dust manufacturers. Tended to compete on price, rather than quality. I guess they used faunus labor as a cost-cutting measure or something. Look," she said hastily at Velvet's skeptical glare. "I don't know the labor practices of every company on Remnant, okay? We can investigate them later."

Velvet clenched her fists one more time, before slowly relaxing them. She took a deep breath, then another. "Alright," she said, glancing at the rubble. "Let's get out of here before I do something I'll regret." She clenched her teeth murderously. "Or worse, something I _don't."_ With that, she stalked off, Coco following close behind and the rest of the group trailing a little further.

"So, Velvet does not seem to like the White Fang," Ren stated bluntly.

"This seems a little stronger than dislike," Pyrrha corrected, anxiety tinging her voice. "This is more like outright hate."

"Oh, yeah, and then there was that thing with the Flock of Seagulls back at the cafeteria!" The orange-haired girl let out a melodramatic sob. "That poor table!"

"That's CRDL, Nora."

"I know what I said, silly!" Nora grinned, albeit with a somewhat bloodthirsty undertone.

"Uh, anyway," Pyrrha hastily interjected. "What happened between Velvet and the White Fang for her to hate them that strongly?"

Fox and Yatsuhashi glanced between themselves, then at Velvet and Coco's backs, and then back between each other.

"It's not our place to tell," Yatsuhashi rumbled.

"Yeah, you'll have to ask her," Fox added, shuddering slightly. "No telling what the girls would do to us if we blabbed. Heck, we don't even know the full story. Only Coco does, and we're not stupid enough to ask."

The members of Team JNPR glanced at each other, and seemed to come to a consensus. "We'll ask her tonight," Jaune announced, his voice firm. "Or maybe tomorrow, depending on how the timing works out, but we'll definitely ask her!"

"Heh, your funeral," Fox chuckled flippantly. Yatsuhashi, though, threw them a grateful look.

~o~

Vale's docks were one of the city's primary economic hubs, bringing in merchant ships not only from the other three Kingdoms, but also the many island states scattered throughout the oceans of Remnant. Generally, they were small and isolated enough that clearing out the land-based Grimm was actually feasible, though flying Grimm still necessitated some military presence, and thus they were key sources of food and minerals for the Kingdoms.

Today, in addition to the usual oceangoing and coastal cargo haulers was a mid-sized passenger ship flying the state flag of Mistral and bearing the students slated to participate in the Vytal Festival tournament. Teams JNPR and CFVY had arrived just in time to see the ship get tied up at the pier, and had parked themselves in a nearby coffee shop to watch the students disembark.

So far, they were not impressed.

"So, is it just me, or are most of these guys not that good?" Nora asked in between forkfuls of coffee cake.

"It's not just you," Pyrrha agreed, sipping her coffee. "I've fought some of them. They never lasted long. And they're the better fighters, usually."

"Well, we haven't seen everyone yet," Coco reminded them, tapping her cup of double espresso. "Let's at least wait until they've all disembarked." Suddenly, she pulled down her glasses and leaned forward towards the boat. "In fact, I think I just spotted some genuine competition."

There, just stepping onto the gangplank, were three young men that absolutely stood out from the crowd. Partly it was the colors, one blue-haired, one red-haired, and one green-haired and chocolate brown from head to toe. Partly it was the way they were carrying themselves, poised and confident. Mostly? It was the fact that, from a female perspective, all three were absolutely _scrumptious_.

Velvet was brought back to her senses when a drop of drool fell on her pants. Hastily wiping it away, she summoned up a supreme effort of will and turned away from the sight in front of her and towards Coco.

"You do know that attractiveness isn't a factor in combat ability, right?" The unspoken _So you can stop looking now_ hung in the air.

Coco whirled around, her eyes ablaze. "Ex- _cuse_ me?!"

"I have to agree with Coco here!" Nora piped up, zipping to the fashionista's side.

"Yes, attractiveness can be quite distracting, especially when it's used deliberately," Pyrrha added, stepping up to the fashionista's other side.

"Preach it sisters!" Coco grinned as she stuck out her hands, which Pyrrha and Nora slapped in response.

Velvet stared at them flatly before sighing wearily. "This is another attempt to get me to let you revamp my wardrobe, isn't it?"

" _Plaid is not acceptable outside of school-uniform skirts, Velvet!"_ Coco snarled as she slammed her palms on the table furiously.

Team JNPR flinched back in shock, whereas Coco's teammates barely reacted.

"Uhh... should we...?" Jaune started slowly.

"Do you want to wind up in traction for a month?" Fox asked flatly.

"Withdrawn."

Groaning, Velvet turned back to the disembarking students. Anything to not have to deal with Coco on a fashion rampage. Again. Unfortunately, outside of the three hunks from earlier (who were sadly now out of sight), there wasn't anyone terribly interesting exiting the boat. At least, not that boat.

Tied up to another pier, tucked off to the side of the Mistral ferry, was a somewhat battered banana boat. Some sort of commotion was occuring onboard; she could hear shouting and the clanging of steel-toed boots on metal plate. Both sounds intensified until a blond-haired young man wearing jeans and an open shirt that displayed his oh-so-delicious abs jumped out of the cabin, a half-eaten banana in one hand.

As the other girls began drooling again - and Fox began making gagging sounds behind them - Velvet finally heard the captain of the boat.

"And stay off, ya no-good stowaway!"

Velvet barely had time to process that statement before a golden-furred monkey tail curled out from behind said stowaway's back.

 _'A faunus.'_ Unconsciously, Velvet's hands began to clench at her side again. _'Stowing away and stealing food.'_ Said faunus jumped off the boat as the irate owner came up on the deck, flipping in midair to snag the rung on a nearby lamppost.

"Hey, I'm a _great_ stowaway!" He called back cheekily. "After all, you didn't find me until now, did ya?"

And that was when the two cops arrived.

 _'Please cooperate,'_ Velvet pleaded silently as the two officers approached him. _'Please cooperate, please cooperate!'_

No such luck, as the faunus responded to the officers' calls to get down with a well-aimed banana peel to one of the officers' faces, followed by flipping past them onto the dock and dashing down the street.

Velvet could feel her face heating up in a way that had nothing to do with how attractive he was. Dimly, she could hear Coco trying to calm her down with platitudes. Calm? She was calm. As long as that damn _monkey_ didn't do anything else, she could control herself.

Said monkey dashed right past the cafe and, upon noticing her, smiled roguishly.

Velvet tried to restrain herself, to act civil, she really did.

Then he winked at her.

 _'I'm going to skin him alive!'_ Was the thought running through Velvet's head as she snapped to her feet, and if the suddenly terrified expression the monkey faunus had was anything to go by, it was written all over her face as well. That, and he immediately turned tail and bolted even faster than he had from the cops.

" _YOU-!"_ Velvet snarled. That was all that her team and Team JNPR managed to catch before she was halfway down the street after the other faunus.

"Dammit!" Coco snapped as she sprung to her feet as well, grabbing her handbag. "Fox, Yatsuhashi, we need to stop her!"

"Before she puts the poor guy in traction?" Fox asked.

"Before she ruins her shoes with his blood." Yatsuhashi grunted.

"Oh, right, of course, how could I possibly be so stupid."

Team CFY took off running in the same direction as the two faunus, leaving a thoroughly confused Team JNPR in their wake.

"What… just happened?" Jaune wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Ren replied. He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. "Should we go after them?"

"Well..." Pyrrha bit her lip uncomfortably. "It looked like Velvet was planning to commit cold-blooded murder, so we don't really have a choice, do we?"

"No, we don't," Jaune stated firmly as he stood up. "Pyrrha, could you pay for the drinks? Thanks. Ren, you're the most agile of us, so you'll have to take the lead."

Ren nodded, and immediately took off at a run in the direction Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi had gone, the rest of the team trailing some distance behind.

~o~

Sun Wukong landed on yet another flat Vale rooftop, tucking into a roll that took him well away from the edge. And a good thing, too, as a boot-clad heel slammed into the rooftop right where he had landed with an ominous crunch.

"Jeez, lady, what's your deal?" he snapped as he scrambled to his feet. "This is a little excessive for just a wink, dont'cha think?"

"Just… a wink?" Velvet ground out, her voice disturbingly even. "You think this is just about your stupid attempt at _flirting?"_

Sun looked at her warily, leaning onto the balls of his feet. "Uh, yeah? Can't think of anything else that would get a cute girl this mad at me. I should know, it's happened plenty of times before..."

"Oh, I'm sure it has." Velvet commented frigidly. "But trust me, it's not that. More like… you are almost everything I think a faunus should _not_ be." And with that, she struck, snapping out a side kick.

Sun leaped over it, landing behind her. "Wait, is this about the whole stowing away thing?" he asked as she whirled around. "I just wanted to get here before everyone else!" A roundhouse kick was neatly avoided by a step back. "And in hindsight, Neptune and Scarlet were totally right about the speed of the boat. Kinda wish I wasn't so stubborn about it now when they told me that."

Velvet froze, her expression breaking into a rictus of fury. "You broke the law and disgraced our species _for your stupid freaking pride!?_ "

She exploded into a veritable whirlwind of kicks, each one packing enough power to render concrete into gravel. And to her increasing frustration, not only did every kick miss, the other faunus just. Kept. Talking.

"Okay, seriously - whoa! - what are your standards - agh! - for faunus behavior? Because so far - yikes! - they're looking a little overly stri- _not the face!_ "

Velvet tried to press the advantage, but Sun pushed off her foot to gain some distance. The rabbit faunus was on him almost immediately, but it bought him some time to regroup. "They have to be," Velvet snapped, her breathing heavy as her temper slowly flared into an inferno. "It's the only way we'll ever be respected! That we'll ever be better than everyone who's ever insulted us!"

A missed axe-kick sent her foot straight through the stone of the roof, but she immediately yanked it out.

"Better than everyone who's hurt us!"

Her heel passed mere inches from his nose, the slipstream nearly whirling Sun off his feet.

"We need to be good! We need to be perfect! We need to be _better!_ And people like you are a stain on our name! Thieves!"

A well-aimed elbow struck Sun's gut, but he managed to duck under the follow-up.

"Bigots!"

Which left him wide open for the knee that only missed hitting his nose by a well-timed jerk of his head. The impact with his cheek still managed to stagger him, though.

 _"Criminals!"_

She pressed her advantage, the world going red as she felt her foot hit _something._

 _"TERRORISTS! MONSTERS! BASTARDS! TRAITORS!"_ She shrieked, punctuating each word with a kick that was even harder than the last, each one strengthened with more and more Aura. Finally, she ran out of steam. Panting, sweat dripping from her brow, she drew her foot back from out of the ravaged chimney-

Wait, chimney?

"Wow," Sun whistled appreciatively as he inspected the devastated pile of brickwork. "Way to show that chimney who's boss. I don't think it'll ever discriminate against faunus again." He eyed Velvet warily. "So, have you gotten that out of your system? Or do I need to start dodging again?"

Velvet tried planting her foot, but the leg let out a painful spasm and she fell backwards onto her butt. Wincing, she rubbed at the sore hamstring, panting heavily. Her boot, she noticed with some relief, was intact, if scuffed up. Some good news, at least.

So focused was she on getting her breath back that she didn't notice the buzz of her scroll vibrating in her pocket.

~o~

"Come on… dammit, Velvet, pick up!" Coco snarled into her scroll. The phone rang a few more times, then with a click switched to voicemail.

 _"Hey, this is Velvet. I'm not available right now, so please leave a-"_

"Grah!" Coco scowled, furiously ending the call and jabbing the button to start another one.

On a nearby rooftop, Fox and Ren touched down, scanning the surrounding cityscape.

"Do you sense anything, Fox?" Ren asked.

"No. Whatever she did to flare her Aura like that, it's over." He let out a weary sigh. "I don't suppose you see anything?"

Ren shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I think we're going to have to expand our search area."

"Oh. Goody." Fox snarked with a grimace.

Down below, Jaune, Pyrrha, Yatsuhashi, and Nora were combing the alleyways, more to stay out of Coco's way than anything else. Nobody said anything; Yatsuhashi was not a verbose man at the best of times, and the other three were busy thinking of ways to broach the subject on their minds without sounding insensitive.

Finally, Nora worked up the courage to speak. "So, uh, does this happen often?"

Pyrrha and Jaune immediately glared daggers in her direction, though Yatsuhashi didn't seem to mind. "Yes." He said. "Too often. Do you remember the waiter from L'Arbre D'Argent?" At the nods, he continued. "We found her not long after turning a dumpster into scrap metal."

"It's due to her pride as a Faunus," Coco stated from behind them, glaring at the screen as if she could get it to pick up Velvet's scroll with the power of her mind. When that didn't work, she jabbed the call button again and put the scroll to her ear.

"Wait, what do you you mean, 'pride as a Faunus'?" Pyrrha asked in bewilderment.

"Look, Pyrrha, now is not the time," Coco shot back, waving her free hand in a shooing motion. "If you want to help, go spread out and keep looking for Velvet."

"No, Coco, we need to hear this story now," Jaune countered, flinching as Coco turned her gaze on him.

"Jaune, seriously, it's not important right now. What is important is finding Velvet."

"I know that!" Jaune snapped as he hastily rallied his courage. "But the fact is that according to you, this is a regular thing! I... I'm responsible for my team! If you want us to keep looking for Velvet, then we need to know why we're looking for her in the first place!"

Coco opened her mouth to retort-

"I think he's right."

And promptly snapped it shut in favor of staring at Yatsuhashi, her scroll forgotten at her side. "Yatsu?" She breathed.

The giant sighed heavily and shook his head. "They're her friends," he stated solemnly. "They have a right to know."

Coco had no response to that. She slowly reached under her sunglasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. Finally, she snapped her scroll shut and shoved it in her pocket. "Fine." She groaned. "Get Ren down here too if you have to. This could take awhile..."

"Picture Velvet as a first-year student at Signal…"

~o~

"I was... different back then."

Velvet could feel her breath slowing, and her leg no longer felt like it was on fire. The white-hot anger that had been coursing through her veins had faded to numb apathy.

"Really?" Sun tilted his head in curiosity as he balanced on a chimney. "How different?"

Velvet bit her cheek as she hugged her knees. " _Very_ different. Back then, I was... shy, timid, always folding my ears down whenever someone made fun of me for being a faunus. I went to Signal to be strong, but back then..." Her ears drooped downwards. "I didn't feel strong at all."

"Yeeeaaah, call me crazy, but I can't really see you reacting that way now," Sun chuckled. "So, what changed?"

Velvet's mood suddenly reversed subtly, her ears perking up a bit as a sad smile spread across her lips. "I... met someone…"

~o~

"It was one of those days back at Signal where students from Beacon would come to give us a talk. Mingle with the younger students, answer their questions, la di da."

"Oh!" Jaune exclaimed. "Like the soldiers giving enlistment speeches at the regular schools!"

Coco quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, kinda like that," she agreed slowly. "Except with more crazy acrobatics and trick shots. We were all Hunters-in-training, after all." She gave Jaune an odd look before dismissing whatever thought was running through her head. "Anyways, Velvet was… not in a corner, at least, but definitely on the fringes of the crowd, when one of the Beacon students comes up to her."

"Now, I wasn't there myself," she warned. "So I don't know what was said between the two."

"Velvet never told you?" Pyrrha asked in surprise.

"Well, not the exact words," Coco hedged, wobbling one hand back and forth. "But the general gist of it was…"

~o~

"-that it didn't matter what others said about Faunus," Velvet recited, "That it was alright to have pride in my ears, that sort of thing." She let a content smile creep onto her face as she recalled the conversation. "She told me... that I was not lesser just because I was different."

Sun whistled appreciatively. "Words to live by. It sounds like you really admired her."

"I idolized her," Velvet corrected bluntly. "Her words that day changed my life. And yes, they are words to live by." She sighed wistfully. "After all, I still live by them today."

"I'm noticing a past tense on the whole idolization part…" Sun trailed off expectantly.

Velvet's mood fell instantly. "... It wasn't just that one time." She mumbled.

~o~

"They stayed in contact for years," Coco sighed, shaking her head. "Even after her mentor returned to Beacon, the two kept in touch. Emotional support, mostly, but also some combat training when they could spare the time."

"So, wait," Jaune interjected. "It sounds like they were best friends, right?

Coco nodded solemnly. "So close they might as well have been sisters."

"But then..." Nora tapped her chin in confusion. "How did it go bad?"

Coco grimaced as she rubbed the back of her head. "Well, you see..."

"Salutations!"

Coco did _not_ nearly let out a shriek at the voice that suddenly rang out behind her. Shrieking was what plebeians did when they were terrified out of their minds. And she did not jump with fright. She merely… had an involuntary reaction to being surprised.

Jaune, on the other hand, _did_ shriek. And jump in fright. And fall on his ass when he landed. Everyone else just flinched slightly.

Slowly, gingerly, Coco turned around to the distressingly mundane sight of an orange-haired girl with freckles wearing a green-and-grey dress. "Excuse me," she stated slowly as she readjusted her glasses. "You interrupted me."

"I apologize for the interruption," the girl chirped in a cheerful but flat voice. "My name is Penny. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's, uh, nice to meet you too, Penny." Pyrrha replied tentatively. "Um, why did you jump in like that?"

Penny blinked blankly at the question for a minute, her smile never changing until she finally reacted. "Oh! I'm sorry, that was rude, yes? I apologize! It was just that you all looked like you were from Beacon Academy as well, and my curiosity overcame me. As such, I decided to introduce myself."

"Right," Coco drawled. "Well, sorry kid, but we were kind in the middle of-"

She froze as her brain finished processing Penny's statement. "Wait, did you just say 'as well'?!"

~o~

"And... that was it..." Velvet shrugged helplessly. "I never saw her again. And I don't _want_ to see her again, at least, not unless it's on my terms. Because otherwise..." She clenched her hands violently. "I'm not sure _what_ I'll do."

Sun whistled lowly. "That's… that's quite the story." He grinned sheepishly. "Uh, I... look, I'm sorry about the whole thing with the boat and the cops. In hindsight, it was a really dumb series of decisions, and not just because it got you all pissed off at me."

Velvet stared at him for a few seconds before bowing her head. "And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have lost my temper at you, especially not like this. I think…" She swallowed heavily, glancing at the pulverized chimney. "I think I might have been trying to kill you, at the end."

"That or cripple me for life. Either or." Sun chuckled.

"Not helping…" Velvet grumbled half-heartedly. Sore muscles straining in protest, she hauled herself back to her feet. "Well, I need to get back to my team. They're probably worried sick about me."

"Yeah, I should probably get back to my team, too," Sun agreed. "Of course, they'd never be worried sick about me, those-" He cut himself off when he saw Velvet standing stock still at the edge of the roof, staring down into an alleyway. "Uh, are you okay?" When there was no answer, he walked over to the ledge and looked down.

There, in plain clothes, were two faunus: one with antlers and the other with a bald, scaled head. Both of them had spray cans in their hands and were tagging the other building with some sort of graffiti.

"So a couple of faunus decided to do some street art at night, so… what…" Sun's words caught in his throat as Antlers stepped aside to reveal what he'd been finishing up: a blood-red, snarling wolf's head over a trio of claw marks.

The symbol of the White Fang.

Velvet's breathing slowly sped up as she stared down at the pair. "Those... _bastards..."_ She hissed. The Huntress-in-training tensed up as the two started walking out of the alley, preparing to jump...

"Hold it!"

And snapped her head to Sun in confusion and fury when he grabbed her arm.

"Before you rip my head off, hear me out!" He pleaded hastily. "Those two are probably just grunts, right? Well, if they're doing something this blatant in broad daylight, it's probably because they're cocky, confident. I bet that there a _lot_ more White Fang nearby. If we let these guys go and follow them-!"

"They'll lead us right back to the rest of the pack." Velvet growled, a furious sort of menace igniting in her eyes.

Sun nodded slowly as he smiled in agreement. "Yeah. So... you up for a little hunting trip?"

Velvet's response was to dash past him and leap to another rooftop, staying on the heels of the grunts.

Sun chuckled appreciatively. "Feisty."

And with that, he was hot on her heels, an excited grin on his face. This was going to be _fun._

~o~

The island of Briar was, despite its name, nowhere near the island of Patch. An extinct volcano rising from the waves, Briar was dry and rocky, and largely unsuitable for settlement. However, a large, flat peninsula jutting from the shore, plus reasonable proximity to Vale, meant that it was selected for construction of a military base for housing aerial interceptors. The airfield gave forty years of good service before budget cuts and the further development of V/STOL interceptors that could be based near Vale itself caused its closure.

Naturally, it was closed for barely a year before the White Fang moved in.

While the airfield itself was almost never used - aside from a few lightweight civilian aircraft, the White Fang had almost no air presence - the abandoned base got considerable use pulling double duty as both a storage depot and training facility. Still, even at its busiest the base was only about half-full.

Today, though, the base was bustling. Half a dozen Bullheads in matte black were hooked up to the underground fuel tanks and being loaded up with crates of ammunition by uniformed White Fang soldiers. They were being directed by a female faunus with rainbow bird feathers instead of hair. Circular burn scars dotted her face, and an avian plague doctor's mask was held in one hand. More such soldiers were seated at the edges of the airfield, sharpening blades and running maintenance on their rifles. Among them was an absolute giant of a being, a Faunus despite his lack of bestial features, using a cloth to clean out the mechanisms of the massive chainsword on his lap, the chain set off to the side.

Heads turned as a door to the main barracks slammed open, Roman Torchwick stalking out with Blake Belladonna next to him. The latter was clad in an elaborate navy blue kimono trimmed at the edges with red and tied off with a twin obi, one sky blue and the other red. A white sash was tucked into the obi and went over the shoulder, occasionally flapping in the wind to expose a white flame symbol prominently displayed on the front of the kimono. Only her left arm had a sleeve, one that flared at the end to obscure her hand; the other merely had an armband and a fingerless glove. Her red geta sandals clacked rhythmically on the pavement as she walked. Finally, there was her mask: the white porcelain with red markings, stylized in the form of a cat, covered her annoyed scowl.

The two were having some sort of argument, judging from Roman's exaggerated arm movements and the subtle tension in Blake's stride. Everyone quickly turned back to their work; such arguments had become commonplace ever since the dapper thief had shown up.

"- you absolutely sure we have to do this in broad fucking daylight? Because I'd really be more comfortable-"

"Your objections," Blake snapped. "Have been heard and noted many times before, Torchwick. I've told you just as many times that this is as much a political statement as a heist, so it has to be done this way."

Roman let out a frustrated groan. "Fine. I'll shut up about it - 'it' being a completely and utterly insane manoeuvre, pretty much suicidal. Sure, sure."

Though he couldn't see it under the mask, Roman was pretty sure Blake had just rolled her eyes at him. "And that's why I'll be lurking in the shadows in case you get in over your pretty little head," she deadpanned. "Besides, you're in charge. I fully expect you to bug out on your own if things go bad."

"Thank goodness for small favors," the thief muttered under his breath. A signal from the feather-haired faunus caught his attention: the Bullheads were loaded and fueled. Nodding, he loudly rapped his cane on the hull of one of the transports, causing everyone to look at him.

"Alright, listen up, boys and girls!" he announced. "Quartermaster says we're good to go, so we'll be getting this show on the road shortly! I'm sure you all know the plan." The crowd nodded, except for one in the back, who frantically shook his head.

"Too bad!" Roman said, jabbing his cane in the soldier's direction. "I'm not going over it again. Ask your buddies during the flight. Now, I want to make this quick, and I want to make it as quiet as possible. Stick to the plan, and if in doubt listen to my lifters, and we should be golden. Got it? Good, because we're leaving now."

The moment of silence that accompanied the proclamation only served to infuriate him. "And I mean _right goddamn NOW!"_ he roared.

 _That_ got the White Fang moving, grabbing their weapons and climbing into the Bullheads. The Quartermaster slipped her plague-doctor mask over her face and slid a long, thin sword onto her back as she mounted her vehicle, followed closely by the giant Faunus.

"Fucking animals…" Roman muttered around his cigar as he climbed into the lead craft, sitting down into the copilots' seat.

 _"What was that?"_ A shadowy facsimile of Belladonna's voice hissed in his ear, causing him to nearly swallow said cigar.

"Nothing," he grumbled. "Just... thinking about contingencies. Yes, in case something goes wrong."

The shadow stared at him for a few seconds before dispersing into smoke. Roman exhaled in a huff, leaning back in his seat as he willed his heart rate to go back to normal.

 _'Note to self_ ,' he thought as the Bullhead took flight. ' _Never assume Belladonna can't hear me.'_

~o~

Velvet groaned. Now that the adrenaline had completely worn off, she felt wrung out, like a wet rag. Beyond the physical exhaustion, her sore leg and depleted aura, lying on her stomach staring at rather shady-looking bar for an hour had left her feeling mentally drained as well.

"Anything happen yet?" Velvet asked, rolling onto her back.

"Nope," Sun replied. "Though I think their beers are a little lower in their mugs."

Velvet sighed. "So, that's what, another fifteen minutes?"

"Yeah, probably. Maybe ten if they drink fast." Suddenly, Sun leaned more over the ledge, squinting at the dive below. "Ugh, what I wouldn't give for some binoculars right now."

"Why, what are you seeing?" Flopping back on her belly, Velvet crawled up to the edge and peered in. One of the Fang grunts was definitely fiddling with something, though what she couldn't tell. "Is that a Scroll? Some sort of remote detonator?"

"No idea." Inside, the two men suddenly grabbed their mugs and downed the contents in one shot. "Scratch that, it was probably some kind of signal." Both faunus ducked behind the ledge as the two White Fang exited the bar, swaying only slightly.

As the pair began to make their way down the street, Velvet and Sun followed on the rooftops. It wasn't long before both noticed that they were heading towards the docks. And the mystery only deepened as, barely a block from one of the farms of storage containers, the two White Fang grunts were met by a man and a woman in gray hoodies emblazoned with a red rose pattern.

"What the hell?" Velvet whispered from her vantage point on the rooftop. "Why would White Fang members be meeting with normal humans? For anything other violence against them, at least."

Sun jerked in sudden recognition. "Holy shit those are Crimson Thorn symbols!"

"That name sounds familiar..." Velvet said, trailing off uncertainly.

"They're a crime syndicate," Sun replied, his eyes narrowed. "A big-ass expansionist, incredibly brutal crime syndicate. They've been all over the news back in Mistral for a string of high-profile murders. I remember one expert saying they were based in Vale."

"Oh, yeah, now I remember!" Velvet exclaimed softly. "Yeah, they're definitely based in Vale. I remember hearing the news stories several years ago. Most of them involved mutilated bodies surrounded by rose petals." She dropped her head to the ledge in frustration. "But this makes even less sense! The Thorns should be the last human group the White Fang would team up with!"

"Wait, they're moving again." Indeed, the quartet was moving further into the docks. Docks which were still populated with workers getting the containers off the ships.

Moving more quickly, Sun and Velvet hopped onto the next rooftop, getting to the far edge in time to see a veritable swarm of White Fang and Crimson Thorn mooks moving onto the pier, rounding up the dockworkers and tying them up. With that finished, they moved onto the containers. Containers which, the two faunus realized with a start, were emblazoned with the stylized snowflake of the Schnee Dust Company.

"So that's what this is about," Velvet breathed.

"Steal a bunch of Dust for their own use and stick it to their most hated enemy in the process. That's a pretty good payoff," Sun said with grudging respect. His hand shot out, just barely managing to snag Velvet's shoulder as she rose. "Hang on!"

Velvet shot a glare in towards him. "They're right there! We know what they're doing! What do we need to wait for?"

"Those containers have got to weigh a full ton each, at least, right?" Sun prompted.

"Maybe, so what?"

"So... how are a few dozen goons going to transport them anywhere on their own?"

"They're… not." Velvet breathed as she realised what Sun was getting at.

"Exactly." Sun nodded in triumph. "You mentioned your teammates. We have time before these goons can get this all moved, so we have time to go get them and come back with a full team."

Suddenly, the roar of jet engines began to doppler onto the pier. Both Sun and Velvet looked skyward, seeing the squat black forms of a half-dozen Bullheads vectoring in for a landing.

For a moment, the two were silent. "Okay," Sun said weakly. "I wasn't expecting _that_." He glanced at Velvet. "You're not going to attack them, are you?"

"I'm not stupid," Velvet shot back with a glare. "Six Bullheads means, what, over a hundred troops? I can't fight that many people."

Settling back onto his stomach, Sun turned towards to the Bullheads even now coming in for landing. "Well, here's hoping your teammates get here soon."

~o~

Roman smirked as his Bullhead landed. He could see through the windscreen that the dockworkers had already been neutralized, and with no fatalities. Oh, how he loved it when subordinates did what he asked without reminders.

There was a light bump as the aircraft touched down. Roman immediately unbuckled his seatbelt and strode out of the cargo bay, followed by a dozen White Fang soldiers. He glanced around, taking in the sight of glorious organized chaos. The White Fang soldiers were already separating into fire teams and dispersing into the maze of containers, ready to respond to anyone investigating. The Quartermaster had rounded up the Fang and Thorn men already present, and had them strapping the first container to one of the Bullheads.

 _'Maybe this'll actually go off without a hitch,'_ he thought to himself. That feeling didn't last long, as another sweep of the pier revealed a flash of green landing on top of one of the nearby warehouses.

"Oh no you don't, kung-fu boy," Roman growled. Lifting Melodic Cudgel, he fired a high-power shot right at where he had seen the green spot. The explosion was satisfying, but was quickly replaced by disappointment as not one, but two shapes flipped away from the explosion and landed on the pier.

Turning to the Lieutenant, he jerked his head towards the two, one of whom was definitely the kid from the Dust shop. "Scenario 2C, if you will."

The mountain of a faunus grunted, swinging his massive sword off his back as he charged at the pair. Both dodged the overhead swing, and then had to keep dodging as the White Fang fire teams opened up with their rifles in a hail of bullets. Though the one or two hits didn't do much, the two were so focused on the hail that they almost didn't notice the Lieutenant trying to chop their legs off at the knee. Even better, it separated the two: kung-fu boy was kept under fire by the White Fang riflemen, while his dark-skinned companion was fighting one-on-one with the Lieutenant.

Satisfied that the situation on the pier was well in hand, Roman entered the maze of containers to make sure no one else had snuck past, whether to attack the riflemen or interfere with the Quartermaster's loading. A wise decision, he realized, as he heard rather panicked gunfire coming from one of the fire teams. He arrived at the spot he had heard the gunfire come from just as it petered out, and turned a corner to see two faunus - a rabbit and a monkey, from the ears and tail - standing over four White Fang soldiers and looking thoroughly surprised at the sight of him.

 _'Well, when opportunity presents itself...'_ Raising Melodic Cudgel again, he sent a shot downrange. The monkey managed to evade, but the rabbit took it full-force with a surprisingly weak flash of Aura as one of her legs seemed to seize up. She fell, smoking but still alive.

Roman, sadly, had no chance to rectify that as the monkey attacked him full force with, of all things, shotgun nunchucks. Fucking hunter trainees. Roman frantically weaved Melodic Cudgel to match each shotgun blast. Some buckshot slipped through, but the Aura loss was minimal, and the cane catching the monkey in the ribs managed to get the thief some breathing room.

"So," Roman said jovially as the fight paused. "Kind of a bit much for a first date, isn't it?" He pointed his cane at Velvet's still form. "I mean, your girlfriend there clearly couldn't handle it."

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," was all the monkey said, an eerie calm in his voice. Belatedly, Roman realised that he might have misjudged his opponent a tad. Still, this time he was ready when his opponent shifted his weapon into a quarterstaff and attacked again.

~o~

Fox stepped back as the massive sword swooshed through the space where his stomach had been half a second prior. Once again, he managed to dash behind his opponent and unleash a withering barrage of strikes from his blades, before being forced back by a swung fist. It was a pattern they had been through nearly a half dozen times already.

On the one hand, the man was absurdly predictable. His movements were loud and easy to track, and the massive weight of his weapon limited the variety of strikes he could deliver.

On the other, he was absurdly strong and durable. Fox had heard concrete cracking with each overhead strike hitting the pier, and so far his slashes had barely caused any appreciable dip in his opponent's Aura levels.

Going to the Bullheads had seemed like such a good idea ten minutes ago. Who knew they would run into _Roman fucking Torchwick_ of all people. Oh, and also a whole mess of White Fang, but honestly they were a secondary consideration.

 _'Alright, time to mix things up,'_ he decided. This time, as the chainsword came down, Fox didn't dodge. Instead, he crossed his arms to present the armor plates outward and anchored his stance. The sword crashed into his guard, and would have knocked Fox clean off his feet had he not jumped with the impact.

 _'Okay, bad idea!'_ he exclaimed in his head. _'Note to self: don't take any attacks. I think this guy might be able to one-shot me.'_

Not for the first time, Fox lamented that his Semblance didn't work on himself. From the gunfire coming from behind him, Ren was too busy to help him. The mountain of a man in front of him would likely be able to wear him down from exertion alone. And to top it all off, they still hadn't found Velvet.

"C'mon, Coco, get here soon," Fox growled as he dodged another sword strike.

~o~

Coco ran at full speed towards where she had seen the explosion, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Yatsuhashi hot on her heels. That strange girl, Penny, trailed at the back. Coco didn't begrudge the girl following them; she had already gotten them very close to finding Velvet.

 _"You're a student at Beacon?!" Jaune exclaimed._

 _Penny blinked, then her mouth opened in an 'o' shape. "Apologies, I should have been more clear. By 'as well', I was not talking about myself. I was talking about the two students I saw running on the rooftops not long ago."_

 _Coco's eyes widened, and she knew that the others had come to the same realization. "What direction were they going?!"_

 _"I can do better than give you the direction," Penny replied, a slight hint of pride in her voice. "From the layout of the buildings and their last known trajectory, I can take you down the path they took."_

Penny had been as good as her word. They had found a building with a wrecked chimney and footprints in its roof, all telltale signs of Velvet venting her frustrations. Unfortunately, the rabbit faunus had already left, forcing them to spread out to try and find her. It taken over an hour of fruitless searching before the explosion rising over the docks caught their attention.

 _'Please be safe, Velvet.'_

The impromptu team rounded the last corner to the sight of an ongoing battle. Fox was fighting a massive mountain of a man, who had just shrugged off a kick the tended to send Ursas flying. Ren was getting shot at by an obscene number of guns. And Velvet was nowhere in sight.

"Nora! Yatsuhashi!" Coco barked, taking charge of the situation. "Go help Fox and Ren! I'm going to go find Velvet. Jaune, Pyrrha, I need you to-"

She cut herself off as she realised Jaune and Pyrrha were no longer there, instead sprinting into the maze of shipping containers.

"Huh. I guess their training is paying off," Coco mused as Yatsuhashi clashed blades with Mr. Buster-Blade, and Nora-

"What are you doing!" Coco snapped, wrenching the grenade launcher upwards. Thankfully, Nora had the presence of mind to not fire it.

Nora, for her part, shot Coco an indignant glare. "Hey, you said help Ren, and the best way to help him is to suppress those gunmen!"

Coco sighed. "Look, Nora, I get that you want to help, but your grenades are too indiscriminate for this work." As Nora opened her mouth to protest, Coco cut her off, pointing to one of the shipping containers.

"You see those symbols on the containers?" Coco asked. When Nora nodded, she continued. "That means those containers and everything in them are property of the Schnee Dust Company. Not only does this mean that any collateral damage is liable to get us all sued into oblivion, do you know what explosion plus lots of Dust equals?"

Nora's eyes widened and her skin paled. "Big boom?" She squeaked out.

"Yup," Coco nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to be able to shoot anything either." From Nora's pout, it didn't. Grinning, Coco gave Nora a hearty slap on the back. "Ren'll be fine. Jaune and Pyrrha should be clearing out those gunmen right now, so get in there and hammer that, uh, bear bastard in the face."

A bloodthirsty grin crept across Nora's face, and she immediately switched her weapon into hammer mode and charged into the fray, weapon ready to smash the Lieutenant's face in.

Chuckling, Coco tensed her legs to go around the fight and find Velvet, but felt a tapping at her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Penny, looking expectantly at her. "Oh, uh, hey Penny," she fumbled, having somewhat forgotten about the odd girl. "Could you stay here, out of the fighting?"

"Certainly!" Penny stated in that cheerful yet flat voice of hers. "But if you need my help, don't worry: I'm combat ready!"

Coco nodded distractedly. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." With that, she took off, skirting the fight with the Lieutenant and going among the shipping containers.

It didn't take much time among the metal boxes to find Velvet. On the downside, she also found Roman, who was holding up the faunus, his cane pressed into her torso.

"Now, I'm a reasonable man," he was saying to someone unseen. "Back off right now, and I'll leave her here for you to retrieve with no fuss. If you stay…" The orange-haired man chuckled. "Well, my finger is rather close to the trigger. If it were to slip…"

That was all Coco needed to hear. Dashing down the row, Roman had barely enough time to turn around before Coco's bag hit him upside the head. Being a few hundred pounds of rotary cannon packed into a space the size of a handbag, the impact sent Roman tumbling ass over teakettle into a nearby shipping container.

That had the consequence of letting Velvet fall out of Roman's hands, and Coco immediately dashed forward to grab her. The fashionista took in her unconscious state, her scorched clothes, and the minor burns dotting the exposed skin. Slowly, gently, she lowered Velvet against the side of another container.

She heard steps behind her, the clomp of heavy boots rather than the click of Roman's dress shoes.

"Hey, uh, thanks for the assist," Sun said hesitantly. "I didn't know what to do there. Can't let him go, but can't let him shoot her, y'know?"

"Of course," Coco noted idly as she stood up. "You protected her."

Sun sighed heavily. "Yeah, from herself, too. She certainly needed it a few times." He snorted. "Can't say I did a very good job."

Coco opened her mouth to respond, but was forced to duck under another explosive shot that scorched the container but didn't penetrate.

"Sorry to interrupt, but look what you did to my poor hat!" Roman said with a mock whine. And indeed, the felt bowler in his hand was badly crumpled, probably beyond repair. "You killed it! That was my favorite hat, and you killed it." His voice dropped, low and dangerous as he tossed it aside. "You're going to pay for that. And I don't mean with money."

"You can try," Coco rebutted. She turned to Sun. "Get me an opening. He can't have that much Aura left after that hit."

"No problem," Sun promised. "He'll be so distracted he won't even see you coming."

"I can hear you, you know!" Roman called out. "And you know what? I think you won't find it so easy this time." Twirling his cane, Roman grabbed it by the handle and swung it down towards Sun and Coco. The two both stepped back slightly, which meant they were both caught in the ensuing small explosion. Coco recovered first, swinging her bag in, only to be intercepted by Melodic Cudgel's tip, Roman immediately triggering a small explosion that swung the fashionista's arm out.

That gave Roman the opportunity to turn around and run deeper into the docks, Sun in hot pursuit. Coco didn't follow, trying to decide whether to join the chase or stay and guard Velvet. Wrapped up in thought, she almost missed the slight whimper as Velvet stirred in her unconsciousness. Smiling sadly, Coco relaxed, sitting down next to the rabbit faunus.

"Don't worry, Velvet," she whispered softly. "I'm right here. You're safe now."

The sound of jet engines washed over her, and she hastily stood up and looked into the sky to see a jet-black Bullhead fly overhead, partially obscured by a shipping container slung under the belly.

Coco grinned, like a shark that's spotted a bare behind. Her bag unfolded into the massive rotary cannon she normally fought with. "Well, I guess I can do something from here after all!"

~o~

The Lieutenant growled in frustration as he locked blades with the massive young man in front of him, and barely managed to suppress his surprise when his opponent wasn't even staggered by the force of the blow. That was a first for the massive faunus.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see his previous opponent, the fast one, trying to sneak into the containers. Well, that wouldn't do. The swordsman he was fighting did not expect the sudden knee to the chest, and he staggered back, letting the Lieutenant attack the other young man. The attack was dodged, of course, but it forced him to stay out in the open, where he could be engaged.

His instincts suddenly screamed at him, and the Lieutenant managed to get his sword up in time to block the cleaver-like blade. His opponent didn't let up, raining more blows on the Lieutenant's guard, sending him stepping back with each blow. One more blow came, and then the swordsman raised up his blade in an overhead chop.

 _'Powerful,'_ the Lieutenant judged. _'But very obvious. How-'_

An Aura-boosted kick hit his sword arm, moving it just enough to throw his guard wide open. As he felt the fast one push off his arm, the cleaver blade was swung, aimed at his wide-open chest. There was no time to get a block up, and even for the Lieutenant the blow coming in was too strong to comfortably take on his Aura.

So he sidestepped.

The cleaver blade crashed into the concrete, shattering the slab like a cheap dinner plate. The swordsman, overextended, was unable to stop the kick that thundered into his Aura, sending him skidding back.

The Lieutenant warily eyed his opponents, the fast one landing next to the swordsman. They seemed content to wait for him to attack, which suited him just fine. He needed a new strategy; wearing them down was no longer an option, now that it was two-on-one.

"Damn, I was hoping he was one of those types who never bothered dodging."

Ah, so they were strategizing, too. Under his mask he could feel his ears flicking forward to capture the sound better.

"Why did you think that, Fox?" the swordsman replied, sounding puzzled.

"Because he didn't bother dodging anything I threw at him!" the newly named Fox yelled in apparent frustration. "Ugh, I hate the big, strong ones that fight smart."

"Well, don't worry," the swordsman said. "We'll be getting some help soon."

 _'Help?'_ the Lieutenant tensed. _'Where-'_

His train of thought was promptly derailed by an impact to the side of his head. The Lieutenant tipped over, threatening to actually fall, before he planted his foot and caught himself. It also afforded him a view of his new opponent, a short girl wielding a hammer and dressed in so much pink it was a wonder she had actually snuck up on him. He made a mental note to talk to Belladonna about improving the peripheral vision of their masks.

The hammer blow seemed to be the cue for the other two to resume their attack. The Lieutenant was forced to steadily retreat, even taking a few blows from the hammer and Fox's blades. Then, suddenly, the attack stopped, his three opponents jumping back. The Lieutenant tensed again. What were they doing this time?

The sound of snapping chain above his head prompted him to look up to the sight of one of the massive shipping containers slipping out of the chains keeping it attached to one of the cranes. He also saw a flash of green leave the top of the container, which explained why it was falling on him in the first place.

Growling, he reached for a dial built into the base of his sword…

~o~

"Aw, yeah!" Nora whooped as the container came crashing to earth in a cloud of concrete dust, Ren landing next to her. "Great job, Ren! I don't think even Mister Buster Sword there will be able to fight after that!"

Fox let out a sigh of relief at the sight. "Seriously, thanks for the save, you guys. I'm not sure if we could've brought him down on our own."

"It's no problem," Nora said airily, waving her hand in dismissal. "We're friends, aren't we? You don't need to thank us for saving you, that's just what friends do!"

"Nonetheless, thank you," Yatsuhashi rumbled, bowing in the direction of Ren and Nora.

Ren opened his mouth to respond, but blinked, then started looking around. "Did you guys hear something?"

Suddenly, there was a whine of jet engines as a squat, black Bullhead lifted off from deeper into the docks, its climb rate sluggish due to the shipping crate slung under its belly.

"Was that what you heard, Ren?" Fox asked, frowning as Ren shook his head. "Then what did you-"

The sound of a mechanical growl echoed around the dock again before anyone could respond. Ren's eyes narrowed as he tried to pinpoint the sound. "It sounded like it came from…" His eyes widened in dawning comprehension. "Inside the…"

The roar of a massive chainsaw tore through the day, quickly followed by the shriek of tearing metal.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me," Fox groaned, slumping forward.

The four turned their eyes towards the container to see the tip of a chainsaw blade poking out of the top, sparks flying into the air. After a few small back-and-forth movements, the blade shot forward, neatly bisecting the container. The Lieutenant followed, revving chainsword in one hand and looking none worse for the wear aside from a fine film of concrete dust.

"Is he part Ursa?" Nora breathed, shakily raising her hammer into a guard stance.

"Panda, actually."

Nora, Ren, Fox, and Yatsuhashi all froze in shock, the thought _'Wait, panda?!'_ in a melee a trois with _'How is he not damaged?!'_ and _'He can talk?!'_ for primary brainpower. Which meant the four barely noticed the Lieutenant swing his sword down on them in time to dodge the blade.

They didn't dodge the resulting shockwave and spray of shrapnel. Yatsuhashi managed to stay standing, and got the Lieutenant slamming the chainsword into a hastily-raised guard for his trouble. The other three went tumbling, though not far, their Aura depleted further.

Ren scrambled to his feet and immediately re-entered the fight, circling around the two combatants and spraying the Lieutenant with gunfire. It didn't seem to do much other than annoy him, but that was enough to ease the pressure on Yatsuhashi.

"Fox, boost!" Nora called out as she got back up. Nodding, he clapped a hand on her shoulder, sending Aura into her body. Nora could feel the strength building in her limbs, and as soon as Fox's hand left her shoulder, she charged straight at the Lieutenant. The massive faunus brought his sword up to guard against the upward swing, but it didn't help, Magnhild barging right through his guard and sending him flying.

His upward motion was promptly arrested by the now container-less crane, leaving a massive dent in the metal arm and sending him downward at high speeds. He hit the pier and bounced several feet in the air, leaving the concrete cracked, then landed again and half-skidded, half-tumbled until he hit the wall of a warehouse on the other side of the pier, several hundred feet away. It was hard to tell what damage he had taken from so far away, but he wasn't moving

"Okay... stay down this time... you bastard…" Fox panted from the massive aura expenditure, resting his hands on his knees.

The rest of the group wasn't in much better shape. Yatsuhashi was using his sword as a crutch, his armor littered with deep gouges and a minor cut on his cheek. Nora was flat on her back, panting even harder than Fox, Magnhild lying on the ground next to her. Only Ren looked to be in anything close to good shape, and even he was somewhat out of breath.

Suddenly, Ren recoiled in shock, his eyes wide. "How does someone like that even exist?" he breathed.

Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Nora all wearily looked up to see the Lieutenant pulling himself to his feet. Blood could be seen dripping slowly out from under his mask, and the back of his shirt was practically gone, several nasty-looking scrapes oozing more blood. And yet, the man was upright and not wobbling, his sword still clenched in one hand.

"Okay, that's just not fair," Fox deadpanned, though there was a note of fear in his voice. Around him, the rest of the group were shakily getting ready for round five as the Lieutenant began to advance towards them.

~o~

As Jaune and Pyrrha entered the maze of shipping containers, Jaune took point, shield raised and sword out, with Pyrrha behind him ready to attack once they ran into any White Fang soldiers.

It didn't take long for them to find the first group of riflemen, still unloading a hail of fire towards Ren.

"Okay, should we be sneaky or fast here?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha behind the corner of one of the containers.

The redhead risked a glance around the corner at the four riflemen, who were very intensely focused on their fire.

"Sneaky," Pyrrha decided as she pulled back. "They probably won't notice us. Be ready to charge, though."

Jaune nodded, and padded around the corner in a crouch, Pyrrha following immediately behind. Closer and closer they crept, the White Fang soldiers still not noticing them, until Jaune brought Crocea Mors down on the shoulder of the rearmost mook. The faunus' collarbone snapped with a sickening crack, and with a grunt of pain bhe fell down clutching his shoulder. A pommel strike to the back of the head sent him into blissful unconsciousness.

Jaune looked up to find two more soldiers unconscious and Pyrrha about to strike the fourth, who was holding some sort of handheld radio. One quick flip and slam onto the pavement and he was down for the count, too, the radio falling out of limp fingers.

Curious, Jaune walked over to the body and picked up the radio, giving it a quick look-over. "A walkie-talkie!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Wow, where did they get these? These were old technology when I was a kid!"

"I suppose it makes sense that the White Fang would use older technology," Pyrrha mused. "Hang on to that, it might come in handy later. In the meantime, we need to finish clearing out the rest of these fireteams."

"Right," Jaune said, slipping the handheld into one of the pockets of his jacket. "So, speed from now on?"

"We have to assume the rest know something is up, so yes," Pyrrha replied as they set out, Jaune jogging in front of Pyrrha again.

The two quickly fell into a simple pattern. Jaune would take fire from the soldiers watching the backs of the fireteams, allowing Pyrrha to attack, whether with Milo's rifle form, a thrown shield, or a simple charge into melee. Either way, the fights were over quickly and cleanly.

Finally, they finished the last group, Pyrrha's shield bouncing off four heads in one throw.

Jaune whistled as he watched his partner take out four armed men in as many seconds. "Pyrrha, have I ever mentioned how much I love your Semblance?" he said as she retrieved her shield. "Because I seriously do. It's so versatile!"

Pyrrha blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thank you, Jaune." She glanced over the prone forms of the four White Fang soldiers. "Do you think this was the last of them?"

The whine of jet engines filled the air as a black Bullhead sluggishly lifted off from deeper within the docks. As Jaune and Pyrrha watched, the Bullhead rose high enough to clear the nearby obstructions, and began to surge forward with its cargo underbelly. Passing by further down the rows of containers, it began to loop out towards the ocean shortly after it was over the town, headed to an unknown destination.

"Well, that answers that question," Jaune deadpanned. He squinted in the general direction of the liftoff point. "I think I know how to get there, but…"

"Don't worry, I can take point," Pyrrha replied, flashing him a friendly smile.

Three dead ends and several minutes later found the two peeking around the side of another container to see large numbers of White Fang soldiers and several dozen people in gray hooded sweatshirts busily strapping a shipping container to the belly attachment of one of the Bullheads.

More concerning was the cowled person directing the work. The avian beak of some sort of mask poked out from under their hood, and the attached cloak hid even their gender.

"Who are those guys in the grey sweatshirts?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"I'm not sure," she replied. She pointed to a woman in one of the sweatshirts, or more specifically, a red rose on the sweatshirt. "That symbol seems vaguely familiar for some reason, but I can't- Look out!"

Jaune let out the air in his lungs with a whoosh as Pyrrha tackled him, _something_ smacking into the container behind them. Facing forward, Jaune was able to see that the chain… whip… sword thingy, was not only buried into the metal shipping container, but also emitting arcs of electricity.

The two landed and quickly untangled themselves from each other, only to dive away as the whipsword landed between them. Now, though, they could see their attacker, and it was clear that she was a woman. The plague doctor's mask was pretty creepy, though.

Jaune shivered as the woman's gaze slid over him, then bored in on Pyrrha with laser focus. "You are a nuisance," she said, her voice flat and icy. "Begone."

The whipsword shot towards Pyrrha, who raised a hand to redirect it. To her shock, only a few of the shards making up the sword were redirected, and she was unable to raise her shield in time. The sword swiped her shoulder, delivering an electrical shock. Luckily, her Aura stopped both, but it was a close thing and shaved a large chunk off her reserves.

The Quartermaster drew the shards of her sword back together, Pyrrha's lapse in concentration allowing her to gather all of them, then angled the sword perpendicular to Pyrrha, one hand bracing the sword on its other side. This time, Pyrrha didn't wait for her opponent to attack, and launched an attack of her own, shield raised and Milo in short spear form.

Before Pyrrha could deliver her attack, though, the Quartermaster launched her own, her sword breaking into its constituent pieces in a spray of electrified metal. Five were caught on her shield; five more were deflected by Milo or Pyrrha's Semblance; and two hit, one on her forehead and one on her thigh. Unfortunately, that left all the shards surrounding her, which was driven home by the Quartermaster flicking the hilt to have the shards make a bubble around the redhead, each ready to discharge their electricity. Realizing the predicament she was in, and knowing she couldn't knock all of them away, Pyrrha braced herself for the attack.

"PYRRHA!"

An attack that never came. Jaune had popped up right behind the Quartermaster, sword raised high to hit her shoulder. While he wasn't fast enough to complete the strike before the Quartermaster was able to recall her sword shards and block, it did interrupt the attack against Pyrrha, though the links nicked her on the way back.

Unfortunately for Jaune, only three shards were needed to block Crocea Mors. Two looped to either side of him and dumped several hundred thousand volts into him, causing him to stagger back, smoking lightly. The remaining seven reformed into a short sword that blocked Milo, depleting more of Pyrrha's Aura by electrical charge.

It did nothing for the shield bash that hit her straight in the face.

The Quartermaster was knocked backwards, then pushed off the ground with her hands into a graceful flip that brought her even further away from Jaune and Pyrrha. For their part, the two took the opportunity to regroup, and were painfully aware that the other woman badly outranged them.

 _'Come on, brain!'_ Jaune frantically thought to himself. _'There's gotta be a way to negate that range advantage!'_ He paled slightly as an idea came to him. _'Really, brain? There's gotta be a better idea.'_ When no better answer was forthcoming, he sighed.

"Pyrrha, I have an idea," he whispered. "It's absolutely crazy, but it might just work."

The whipsword came screaming in again, both partners frantically dodging the razor-sharp blade. It promptly burst into shards again, three going against Jaune and the rest going for Pyrrha. The next few minutes were spent frantically dodging, with more than a few rolls to get out of sparking shells of sword shards. To her consternation, Pyrrha was unable to control more than a few of the shards, and never for very long before their opponent was able to wrest them back to her control.

Finally, Pyrrha managed to wrest control of a shard and actually hold it. The Quartermaster, for her part, was still linked to the shard and trying to pull it back.

"Okay, Jaune, what's your idea?" she grunted, trying to maintain the tug-of-war.

He told her.

Pyrrha looked askance at Jaune, only for her control to slip slightly, causing the shard to move three feet towards the Quartermaster. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked.

"Pyrrha, I've got a lot of Aura left, and we both know mine is well suited to defense." He flashed her a smile that was supposed to be reassuring, but came across as nervous. "I'll be fine. Mostly. I hope."

The redhead opened her mouth to retort, but she could feel her concentration about to waver again, so she just nodded. And then let go of the shard.

The unexpected release of tension made the shard fly towards the Quartermaster at much higher speeds than she expected, forcing her to duck. The shard embedded itself in a shipping container, and more importantly, the Quartermaster was distracted.

Reaching out with her magnetism, Pyrrha grabbed onto Jaune's breastplate, lifting him into the air. Jaune, for his part, tucked his arms to his sides, Crocea Mors pointed forward. Brows drawn together in concentration, Pyrrha adjusted the polarity of her grips on Jaune to point towards the Quartermaster, who was still trying to yank her embedded sword shard out of the shipping container.

Pulling her arm back, Pyrrha _hurled_ Jaune like a very large javelin, giving him an extra magnetic boost for more speed.

The Quartermaster only just managed to see it coming, and almost dodged Jaune completely. Almost. He just clipped her with his sword, carving a gouge in her side, before slamming sword-first into the shipping container, ending up embedded up to his waist in the metal box. The Quartermaster slumped to her knees, hand darting to the gash in her side. Distracted, she was unable to stop Pyrrha from magnetically yanking the sword hilt from out of her hand.

Not done, Pyrrha grabbed the now-inert sword shards, and used two to pin the Quartermaster to the shipping container by her cloak. "I suggest you stay here," Pyrrha said, fixing the Quartermaster with a hard glare. "The police will be here to pick you up any minute now, but I can't be watching you the whole time."

The whine of jet engines behind her caused Pyrrha to whirl around, to the sight of the second Bullhead lifting off with its own cargo.

"As you can see-" Pyrrha turned around only to find the Quartermaster gone, the two shards still keeping her cloak attached to the container. "Oh."

She turned back to the workers loading the Bullheads as she contemplated her next move. Go after them first, or help Jaune out of his predicament? A ruthless person would have gone after the loaders first. Pyrrha was not a ruthless person, and so she went to pull Jaune out of the container.

As it turned out, Jaune was stuck in tightly enough that she needed to make the hole bigger to get him out. Still, that was fairly easy. Gently lowering him to the ground, she checked him over for injury. Bruises, some minor burns, and what seemed to be a mild concussion. She smiled ruefully and shook her head. _'I'll be fine indeed.'_

Satisfied that Jaune was fine, mostly, Pyrrha stood, ready to take on the people loading the Bullheads. She took a step forward-

And suddenly a black-and-blue blur zipped by her, leaving behind a hazy shadow shaped like a person. And then another. And another. In the time it took Pyrrha to blink, there were a dozen such shadows standing around her. By the time she got over her shock, there were thirty. And by the time they actually attacked, there were fifty.

It was a surreal experience for Pyrrha. The clones dissipated in one hit, and barely did any damage with their attacks. But there were a lot of them, and she couldn't avoid getting hit. So she didn't even try, going on the offensive in a whirlwind of blade, shield, and foot.

When the shadows cleared, Pyrrha saw only two Bullheads left, unladen and beginning to take off. Though it galled her to admit it, Pyrrha had no real way of stopping them. She didn't have enough destructive power at her disposal, and a Bullhead was well past the upper limit of her magnetism. She could only watch as the two Bullheads began to lift off.

And then a green energy beam reduced the trailing Bullhead to cinders.

~o~

Sun leapt over another explosive shot from Roman Torchwick's cane, wincing as the action stretched bruised ribs. And those weren't the only injuries he was nursing. His face was dotted with bruises and a split lip, his right forearm was badly scorched from blocking an explosive shot, and the rest of his body was covered with a litany of minor injuries.

Still, the monkey faunus could take comfort in the fact that Torchwick was in just as bad a shape. His once-immaculate clothes were battered and torn, concealing what had to be a variety of body injuries. His face, too, was a map of bruising, and Sun swore he could see a lump under that head of hair.

"You are a persistent little monkey, I'll give you that," Torchwick snarked, ignoring how he was currently favoring his left leg. "If sunglasses girl had joined you, you might have actually been able to beat me. Pity she abandoned you like that."

Sun kept grinning, despite how that pulled at the bruises. "If you're trying to get me mad at her, it ain't gonna work." Honestly, it made sense for one of them to stay with Velvet, just in case. "I gotta congratulate you, though. Somehow, you manage to look better with all the bruising and torn clothes."

"Very funny, kid," Torchwick drawled. "Trying to rile me up won't work, because I've already won."

As if to punctuate his point, the whine of jet engines filled the air. Sun glanced to his side to see a heavily laden Bullhead fly by, the second one today.

"See, I only need to keep you busy until we finish loading everything up," Torchwick explained. "And I know my guys; once the first two are done the next four will follow soon after."

Sun snorted, then burst into full-on laughter. "Hahahahahahahaha! Do you really think I care about what you're stealing?" He grinned back at Torchwick, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. "All I care about is kicking your ass for what you did to Velvet."

All signs of mirth vanished from the two as they prepared to go at it again, falling back into fighting stances.

And then a black and blue blur landed between them.

Sun barely caught a glimpse of a white mask before the blur vanished again, leaving behind a black person-shaped shadow. Another blur, another shadow. As more shadows began appearing, he saw Torchwick's face morph into a shit-eating grin.

"Well, it was nice playing with you, little monkey," Roman drawled without a trace of sincerity. "But this is my cue to go."

"Wait!" Sun yelled as Torchwick hopped off the shipping container they were on. "Get back here and- dammit!"

Swinging his staff in wide arcs allowed Sun to quickly clear the shadows away, though their agility still made it tricky. By the time they were gone Roman had vanished, two more Bullheads were dots on the horizon, and two more were taking off.

A glow from one of the distant shipping containers caught Sun's attention, but he had only just turned his eyes on it when it erupted into a massive beam of green energy that plowed into one of the nearby Bullheads and neatly disintegrated it.

Sun let out a low whistle. "Damn."

~o~

The fight on the pier was winding down, not due to any kind of decisive decision, but simply due to the accumulated exhaustion and injury of the participants. Fox and Nora were practically dead on their feet from fatigue. Yatsuhashi, though still upright, had expanded his collection of cuts and armor gouges, and the blood loss was beginning to affect him. Ren was, miraculously, still uninjured, though he was beginning to slow down.

And the Lieutenant was a mess of injuries large and small, from severe internal bleeding to a cut on his palm that kept getting aggravated by holding his chainsword.

The two sides had broken into one of their frequent pauses, pauses that had become more frequent as the fight wore on. Then, the Lieutenant hauled himself to his feet, pulling his sword above and behind his head, one foot forward. An all-or-nothing attack that devastated what it hit but left the user wide open if it failed.

The four students wearily hauled themselves to their feet to meet the attack. Who would he attack? Could they react in time?

For a minute, the combatants held position, waiting for the right time to attack. The Lieutenant tensed to move-

And then a black and blue blur dove between them, disgorging nearly a dozen black, human-shaped shadows that obscured any view of the Lieutenant. It took less than a minute for Ren to clear them, but when he did, the Lieutenant was gone.

Fox and Nora each immediately collapsed into a boneless heap, too tired to move. Yatsuhashi was marginally more graceful, merely sitting down, while Ren walked over to look over his injuries.

"These are mostly superficial," Ren decided after a quick examination. "The blood loss is problematic, but I think that's at least partially due to you moving around so much. If you stay still, you should be fine until someone can look over you."

"Oh, good," Fox panted, too tired to say any more.

"Yay…" Nora added with a distinct lack of cheer.

The roar of jet engines washed over the pier, prompting Ren and Yatsuhashi to look up. They barely had time to see the two Bullheads before a green energy beam struck the trailing craft, disintegrating it aside from a few pieces, one of which landed near them.

"Reeeeeennnn…" Nora whined.

"What is it, Nora?"

"Could you go grab that? I want a souvenir…"

Ren sighed wearily. "Sure, Nora."

~o~

After making sure Velvet was still mostly fine, Coco had made her way on top of one of the nearby shipping containers. They offered a much better vantage point from which to swat down Bullheads.

Unfortunately, for a while there hadn't been any Bullheads, nor any enemies, and that had left Coco quite bored. She had briefly considered lending some fire support to the team fighting the Lieutenant, but two things stopped her. The first was that they were handling themselves just fine. The second, and more important, was that with two people frequently in melee against the Lieutenant, her rotary gun was entirely too indiscriminate for the task.

So when she heard the sound of jet engines again she was ecstatic. Grabbing her rotary gun, she pointed it towards the ascending Bullhead, eyeballing its course and speed. Finally, satisfied that she had a proper deflection shot, she squeezed the trigger-

"Miss Coco, allow me to help!"

"Gah!"

And shot a spray of bullets that went nowhere near the Bullhead.

"Oh for-" Coco snapped, whirling around to glare at Penny. "You don't sneak up on people like that! You completely threw my aim off." Turning her attention back to the sky, she groaned in frustration. "And now the Bullhead's completely out of range. Great."

Sighing, she turned back to Penny, who was still staring intently at her. "Look, kid, I appreciate that you want to help, but I don't know what you can do, so I don't know where you'd be the most helpful. Hell, I don't even know if you can fight."

"Don't worry, Miss Coco. Remember, I'm combat ready!" Penny stated, putting her arms up in a strongman pose. It was also, Coco admitted to at least herself, utterly adorable. "Tell me who to fight, and I can beat them."

"Oh. Right." Coco said, still distracted by the utter adorability of Penny. She had said that, hadn't she? Shaking her head, she mentally shoved those thoughts into a box in her mind to revisit. Later. "Well, why don't you start with-"

The roar of jet engines filled the air again. Coco whirled around, spotting two Bullheads slowly ascending out over the water, rather than over the docks like the last two. The fashionista eyeballed the distance; too long for her rotary gun.

"Penny, you wouldn't happen to have a ranged attack capable of taking down a Bullhead?"

Penny squinted into the distance at the Bullheads, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but not at that range." She hiccupped, then hastily covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"Rats," Coco muttered. "Well, I guess we wait."

Luckily, they didn't need to wait long as another two Bullheads began ascending, and these ones over the docks. Unfortunately, they were also unladen, and thus much faster and more maneuverable.

Once again, Coco eyed the speed and distance. "I'm not sure I'll be able to make this shot. Penny, can you-"

Coco started in surprise at the swords Penny had pulled from… somewhere and aligned into a faux-tube, a ball of green energy coalescing before their tips as they spun into a blur. And then- she released the energy.

A ravening green beam of energy leapt from the tips of the swords, near-instantly crossing the distance to the trailing Bullhead. The Bullhead, hit by the beam, didn't so much explode as outright _disintegrate_. A few scraps maybe the size of a dinner plate fell down in small fireballs, but that was it.

Coco couldn't help it. She gaped in naked awe at the demonstration of destructive power. Beside her, Penny fidgeted nervously, rocking back and forth on her heels. "So, uh, what do you think?" she said.

"That… was FUCKING AWESOME!" Coco whooped, grabbing her beret and throwing it on the shipping container they were on. "Hot _damn_ , those Atlas R&D guys come up with the best stuff!" Still grinning widely, she clapped Penny on the back. "Okay, color me impressed. Where did you get your Hunter training?"

"I…" Penny trailed off, looking uncomfortable for a moment before going back to studied neutrality. "I trained with the Atlas military. My father is a researcher for them, you see." She paused, then continued. "Actually, I'm here to participate in the Vytal Festival tournament."

Coco smirked, then clapped the smaller girl on her back again. "Well, I guess we'll see each other again soon! Good luck with the tournament." Coco frowned in thought as something occurred to her. "Uh, does anyone know you're here? I assume you came here with a guardian of some kind."

Penny's eyes widened in comical surprise. The girl started shifting and glancing around nervously as she wrung her hands. "Um... I, er, that is to say..." Suddenly, she snapped a hand into her skirt pocket, whipped something out and threw it on the floor. "SMOKEBOMB!"

Coco blinked in confusion. "Wait, wha-?"

FWOOMPH!

 _"GAH!"_ She jerked in shock when a cloud of smoke obscured her vision. By the time the smoke cleared, Penny was nowhere to be seen. "What the heck?"

Coco glanced around, just to make sure that Penny was really gone. She wasn't on the pier, the nearby rooftops, the containers, or on the ground nearby. However, while she didn't see Penny, she did see Fox and company on the pier with no enemy in sight.

"I guess the fight's over," she muttered to herself. Sighing, she picked up her beret and hopped off the shipping container she was on. Making her way over to the still-unconscious Velvet, she picked her up in a bridal carry before setting out to the pier.

It wasn't long before the four on the pier noticed her.

"Velvet!" Fox yelled, moving to get up before immediately sitting back down clutching his leg. "Ow, okay, never mind."

"Is she alright?" Yatsuhashi asked. Coco noted, with some dismay, several small cuts on his arms and face beginning to scab over. Not to mention the battered armor.

"I think so," Coco hedged as she set down Velvet next to Fox and Yatsuhashi. "I'd like to get her to a doctor soon, but I don't think she's going to keel over in the next hour or so." Her eyes flicked to Nora, and a brow arched up in surprise. "What's Nora holding, there?"

"A piece of the Bullhead that got destroyed," Ren answered. Indeed, Nora, still flat on her back, was hugging a twisted piece of black-painted metal to her chest. "She said she wanted a souvenir."

"Okay…" Coco trailed off uncertainly. "Anyway, has someone called the police yet?"

Everyone tensed as the sound of footsteps echoed around the pier. Coco whirled around, then relaxed when she saw Pyrrha holding Jaune in a fireman's carry and a battered Sun, who seemed to be favoring his left side.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha," Coco called out to the younger girl. "What happened to Jaune?"

"He got thrown into one of the shipping containers," Pyrrha explained, setting Jaune down on the ground next to Velvet. "I think he has a mild concussion."

"Well, that's not too bad. Aside from the week of headaches."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Sun grumbled as he limped over.

"You did start this whole mess, monkey-boy," Coco pointed out. "But, since you did stick with Velvet the whole time, I'm willing to start over." Shifting her bag to her left hand, she stuck out her right hand. "Nice to meet you, my name's Coco Adel."

Sun looked at the offered hand for a moment before grasping it and shaking. "Sun Wukong. Nice to meet you, too."

Coco grinned as the two ended the handshake. "Great! So, now that we know each other, can someone please call the-"

The sound of sirens caught their attention as several police cars drove out onto the pier, fanning out to give the following cars space. Hot on the heels of the cars were a trio of armored vans that promptly disgorged several squads of armed and armored riot police, as well as Headmaster Ozpin. Rounding out the convoy were a pair of ambulances.

"Okay." Coco chuckled nervously. "I guess we don't need to call the police."

~o~

The police had promptly hustled everyone into the ambulances and sent them off to the nearest station, while the officers themselves untied the dock workers and made sure that the White Fang were actually gone.

Velvet and Jaune had both been examined, revived, and pronounced mostly all right. In fact, the most anyone needed was some patching up and rest and, in the cases of Jaune and Sun, a stern admonition to not exert themselves too much over the next week.

Once the doctors finished, it was time for the debriefing by the police, complicated by the fact that everyone had pieces of the situation but no one had the whole picture. Well, that and Ozpin casually leaning on the wall sipping coffee during each interview. Occasional, he would interject with a question, but otherwise kept silent.

Finally, near dinnertime, all nine students were released. The small party took a quick walk to the nearest landing pad, CFVY and JNPR to take a flight back to Beacon, and Sun to pick up his own ride.

"Mr. Wukong, I've contacted the head of the Mistral party, and you'll be happy to know that they're sending transportation in light of your ribs."

Ozpin took another sip of his coffee while the students stared at him in bewildered shock.

"What- How did- You were standing there the whole time!" Sun sputtered, his arms waving about. "C'mon, guys back me up here! He was standing there the whole time! He didn't have time to call anybody!"

"Sun…" Velvet said solemnly, clapping her hands on his shoulders. "It's Ozpin. Don't question it."

"But-!"

Velvet pulled him in close, staring him dead in the eyes. "Don't. Question. It."

Sun gulped. "R-Right." Gently pulling himself out of Velvet's grasp, he composed himself as a car pulled up. A handwritten sign saying "Sun Wukong" in a messy script was visible from one window.

"That's my ride, I guess," Sun said. He started to walk for the car, but stopped and turned around. "It was a blast being with you guys today! I'll make sure to drop by Beacon later!"

JNPR and CFVY all waved goodbye as Sun got into the car and drove off. Well, all but Nora. She was picking away at the paint on her souvenir.

The flight back to Beacon was uneventful, largely because everyone was too worn out to do much. As such, they were intensely grateful when the Bullhead landed.

"I had the kitchen staff prepare food for you," Ozpin said as they all unbuckled. "It should be in your rooms by the time you get there."

Nora immediately let out a massive yawn as she stepped out, arching her arms over her head. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I just wanna get something to eat and then sleep for a week."

"That sounds like an absolutely _fantastic_ idea," Fox agreed with yawn of his own.

"We are bringing them in on our plan, right?" Velvet whispered to Coco from just behind Fox and Nora.

"Yeah, I think they're ready," she whispered back. "Besides, I don't think we're going to be able to keep it from them any longer."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Behind Coco and Velvet, another whispered conversation was taking place.

"So, we are going to ask them about what they plan to do about the White Fang, right?" Ren whispered to Jaune.

"Yeah. They're planning _something_. I know Velvet's not going to take this without doing something about it," Jaune whispered back.

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Plans made, the teams waved each other goodbye and split up for their respective dorm rooms.

~o~

 _"- for breaking news. A large-scale raid by the White Fang on the Vale docks was halted today in a running battle with an unknown but large number of Beacon students. A police investigation is ongoing, and though the motive of the raid was quite clearly the large shipment of Dust from the Schnee Dust Company, there is only speculation as to what triggered this massive escalation in White Fang activities. Never before has the faunus supremacy organization operated on such a large scale in the open, and there are worries that-"_

Weiss Schnee jabbed the power button on the remote, shutting off the television.

"Well, that was a disaster." She summarized blandly.

 _"Yeeeaaah, it could have gone better, huh?"_ Yang's wince was obvious in her voice as it came over the phone.

"Hence my use of the word disaster." Weiss scowled furiously.

A click from the speaker confirmed the arrival of a new caller.

 _"Well, look who just joined the party!"_ Yang crowed.

 _"That was supposed to be an open-and-shut broad daylight raid."_ Blake snarled irately. "NOT _a nine-ring circus! What. Just. Happened!?"_

 _"Honestly, we were kinda hoping you could tell us that.'_ "Yang said with uncharacteristic seriousness. _"You were there, while all we have are these crappy news broadcasts. Plus, Xavier and Noland aren't responding to my hails for some reason..."_

 _"They were carbonized. Along with their ship and passengers."_ Blake intoned darkly.

 _"WHAT!?"_ Yang squawked. _"By who!?"_

 _"BY YOUR PET PROJECT, THAT'S WHO!"_ Blake roared. _"What was she even_ doing _out there? Do you even have people watching her?!"_

Yang's line went dead for a moment, then came back to life with the tell-tale roar of flames. _"Son of a_ BITCH! _I swear to Remnant, whoever let her slip away like that is getting my boot shoved so far up their ass that they'll be tasting_ shoe leather! _And then they're fired!"_

"Figuratively or literally?" Weiss drawled.

 _"BOTH!"_

"I thought as much," Weiss replied. "Now, if you two are quite done being righteously angry-" She paused as both Yang and Blake let out indignant squawks. "We need solutions here. Now, obviously we need to step up the recruitment or elimination of those students. I know the saying states that it's only enemy action with the third instance, but this is the second time they've interfered in our operations, and this time they came _very_ close to causing us substantial problems. As such, I, for one, do not wish to see what a third time might look like."

For a moment the lines were silent. Then Yang spoke up thoughtfully. _"Well, you know the Valkyrie girl practically worships the ground I walk on, so if I can talk to her I could do something, but I fully expect the Beacon staff to cockblock any attempts I make. At least, on campus. I'll have a better shot during the Vytal Festival."_

"And since I'm going to be attending, you'll definitely have an excuse to be there." Weiss nodded. "Good. Not ideal, but good. Blake, what about you?"

Blake sighed wearily. _"I already told you, recruiting Velvet would be a longshot of a longshot. I'll try, but I warn you that it will be a purely token effort. I already know the answer she'll give."_

Weiss let out a heavy sigh. Why couldn't things ever be easy? "Well, that's all I ask. If it doesn't work out, then I'll try hiring them. After that, we kill them. Simple enough."

 _"And what about our other problem?"_ Blake asked. _"In case you'd forgotten, I lost over two metric tons of cargo and two dozen men."_

 _"And I lost a Bullhead and two pilots! Neither of those are cheap!"_ Yang added.

"The only thing I can think of is to go through her programming with a fine-toothed comb to see what possessed her to pull a stunt like that." Groaning, Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, I can see the sleepless nights already. That, and before you plant your boot up their asses, Yang, we need to interrogate her handlers and find out how the hell they lost her. Or she lost them."

A click on the speaker signalled another new caller. And there was only one other person with access to this line.

 _"Morning, Sleeping Beauty!"_ Yang called enthusiastically. And loudly.

 _"Shut up, I was up all night drafting some modifications for Crescent Rose and running through the plan with Torchwick,"_ Ruby mumbled sleepily. _"So, how'd it go?"_

 _"Terrible."_ Blake spat.

 _"What happened?"_ Ruby demanded, all trace of sleepiness gone in an instant.

"Operations were interrupted by the students and Penny got loose and destroyed a Bullhead." Weiss summarized. "I'm going to have Emerald and Mercury interrogate her programmers right away."

Ruby contemplated this for a moment before responding.

 _"Mm...Nah."_

"What."

 _"I said nah. That'll take too long. I've got a better idea."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Hang on, lemme connect the lines. And… there we go! Hello, Penny!"_

 _"Er... hello..."_

"...hello, Penny." Weiss finally ground out.

 _"Penny, could you please tell us where you are and what happened earlier this morning?"_ Ruby asked kindly.

 _"Yes. Please. Tell us."_ Blake concurred not-so-kindly.

 _"Well, uh, right now I'm heading back to where the airships are. I'm trying to find a cab, it would definitely facilitate the process."_ Penny paused for a moment. " _That's not what you wanted me to start with, is it?"_

 _"Brilliant deduction."_ Yang drawled. _"Okay, let's cut the bullshit. Why'd ya blow up one of my Bullheads, Penny?"_

 _"Those were your Bullheads?!"_ Penny exclaimed. _"I'm so sorry! I had no idea they were yours, Yang! I thought Blake had stolen them or something! And I had no idea it was one of Blake's operations until she started using her shadows! I would never have interfered otherwise."_

"She's telling the truth…" Weiss muttered inaudibly.

 _"Penny…"_ Ruby said softly. _"Did you become friends with those students you met?"_

There was a heavy pause on the other end of the line. _"... Yes."_ There was another pause. _"Is that a bad thing, Ruby?"_

 _"No, of course not, Penny."_ Ruby reassured the gynoid. _"Though, slipping past your handlers was very naughty of you. Now, since this is the first time you've been out of the lab, if you tell us how you slipped by your handlers I won't punish you or anything. That sound good?"_

 _"Sure!"_ Penny said, her voice audibly perking up. _"I just waited until they were distracted by a pretty lady and slipped into a nearby alley."_

There was a beat, then all four Strategos simultaneously groaned and slapped their foreheads.

 _"Forget tasting my boot leather,"_ Yang ground out. _"They're going to be tasting my belt buckle by the time I make certain they're receiving unemployment checks!"_

 _"I… don't think that's anatomically possible, Yang,"_ Penny stated.

Yang snickered, then burst into full-on laughter, Ruby joining in soon after. Weiss merely shook her head, though a few snickers came over Blake's line.

 _"That was another metaphor, wasn't it."_ Penny sighed.

 _"Y-Yeah, it was,"_ Ruby wheezed. _"Sorry, Penny, but that was just too funny."_

 _"Glad to be of service, Ruby. I'm sure you have lots of plans to talk about, so I'll be going now."_

Yang finally got her laughter under control as Penny dropped out of the call. _"Well, as amusing as that was, we should probably talk about our next operation."_

The mood in the room immediately sobered. This was it. After this operation, there would be no turning back.

"Blake?" Weiss asked.

 _"Mountain Glenn should be ready on schedule."_ Blake confirmed.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Morning dawned over the city of Vale, those citizens up at this early hour treated to the beautiful sight of the sun rising over the mountains to the east. Those citizens that were still asleep began to stir in their beds as the sunshine streamed in through their windows, and even the grumpiest of schoolchildren woke up with a minimum of fuss.

Of course, not everybody was so sanguine about the morning's arrival.

"Make the sun go away…" Jaune moaned piteously as his head throbbed. The extra pillow stacked over his head didn't seem to be helping.

His ears perked up at the sound of a brief series of thumps that quickly stopped.

' _I know I'm going to regret this, but-'_ Gingerly slipping his head out from the pillow sandwich, he managed to just crack his eyes open. The throbbing intensified, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the last time he'd opened his eyes. That had been like a Goliath trying to drive a railroad spike into his skull.

In spite of his agony, Jaune let out a snort of laughter at the sight of Nora in her PJs, Magnhild held in her hands, being held in place by Ren's hand on her collar. The orange-haired girl was keeping up a steady stream of grunts and growls, her feet sliding along the hardwood floor but failing utterly to gain any traction.

Ren, for his part, was dressed and looked disgustingly alert, and was reading a book with his free hand.

"What is she…" Jaune mumbled out, his mouth tasting vaguely of vinegar and sand.

Ren didn't even look up from his book as he answered. "Just the same thing she does anytime she doesn't want to get up: trying to break the sun's legs."

Despite the ongoing headache muddling his thoughts, Jaune knew there was something wrong with that picture. "Isn't that… y'know, impossible?"

This time Ren did look up from his book, shooting Jaune an 'Are you an idiot?' look. "Do you really think that something as trivial as 'impossibility' would matter to Nora?"

"Point," Jaune conceded. He glanced around the room, wincing at the strain it placed on his eyes. "Where's Pyrrha?"

"She went to get coffee for us and aspirin for you," Ren replied, his eyes going back to his book. "She should be back any minute now."

"Cool," Jaune said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "'M gonna just try to get some more sleep, arright?" Not waiting for an answer, Jaune closed his eyes again and shoved his head back into the pillow sandwich.

After what felt like barely any time at all, Jaune heard the door handle turn. Groaning internally, Jaune slipped out of the pillow sandwich and cracked his eyes open again. There was Pyrrha, a glass of water in one hand and a large thermos in the other, presumably with the coffee. Like Ren, she was fully dressed and disgustingly alert.

Pyrrha placed the glass of water on Jaune's nightstand, also fishing a small bottle of pills out of the breast pocket of her uniform. Popping the cap, she tilted the bottle over her hand and shook out a pill, placing it next to the glass.

"The nurse told me that you should take one every six hours with water," Pyrrha instructed. "Drink the water, too. It should help with the dehydration."

Jaune groaned in response, and reached for and grabbed the pill, then the glass. Gingerly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, popped the pill into his mouth, and began drinking the water.

As he did so, he could see Pyrrha pouring out the coffee into a trio of mugs, one of which was definitely Nora's, if the "Boom for the Boom God!" slogan painted on it was any indication.

Nora, for her part, stopped walking in place and began to sniff the air. She turned her half-lidded gaze to the table with the coffee mugs, and slowly reached for a random one. The journey to her mouth was equally slow, but once the mug reached her lips, Nora immediately tilted her head back and chugged it all in one go.

"Ten…" Ren said as she finished drinking, still with the half-lidded, sleepy look on her face. "Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…"

Nora's face suddenly lit up, her eyes widening and pupils dilating to maximum diameter. Jaune wasn't even sure _what_ her mouth was doing, and wow, didn't know that Nora could wiggle her nose.

"Ignition…"

"Good morning, everyone!" Nora called out in her chipper tone, sending Jaune fleeing back into his pillow sandwich.

"Lift off. We have lift off," Ren finished, removing his hand from Nora's collar.

Jaune's flight had not escaped notice. "Oh, shoot! Sorry, Jaune, I forgot about your concussion," Nora apologized in a much more tolerable tone.

"M'okay," Jaune mumbled from under the pillow.

"How long do those usually take to kick in?" Nora asked Pyrrha.

"About fifteen minutes, give or take five."

"Great!" Nora gingerly set down Magnhild, grabbing her toiletries and a towel. "I'm gonna go take my shower. Hopefully Jaune will be mobile when I'm done."

As Nora walked into the attached bathroom, Pyrrha and Ren exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Jaune, are you going to be up for the meeting we have planned with CFVY?" Pyrrha asked, concern coloring her voice. "If you really can't do it, you don't have to push yourself."

"I think I'm beginning to feel better," Jaune replied. This was true; the headache only felt like a Deathstalker using its stinger rather than the prior Goliath. "I'll get back to you on that once Nora gets out of the shower."

"Worst case scenario, the three of us can go and take notes," Ren added. "Besides, I have a feeling CFVY is in similar shape."

~o~

Velvet Scarlatina stared at the knob of the shower as if it was some arcane futuretech device rather than, well, a shower knob. Normally, the faunus took very hot showers, hot enough that Fox frequently made jokes about 'boiled rabbit'.

Today, what with her extensive collection of minor burns, that didn't seem like a good idea. But the question was, should she go cold, or stay with warm water? The lessons on burn wounds suggested cold…

Ten minutes later, Velvet stepped out of the bathroom, goosebumps all over her body. "C-Coco," she stuttered. "N-Never let me t-take a cold s-shower. A-Again."

"Deal," Coco stated, a mischievous grin on her face. "If I get to pick out everything when we go clothes shopping next."

"Fine," Velvet groaned as she hung up her towel. "I'll go. If only just to stop you from nagging me." Opening up her closet, Velvet began pulling out clothes for the day's outfit. "By the way, where's Yatsuhashi?"

"He went to the infirmary to get his bandages changed," Coco answered. "Wait, no, don't wear that. That skirt and blouse go terrible together. How do you own that top, anyways? I would have sniffed it out years ago!"

"What?" Velvet blinked in confusion. "What's wrong with these clothes?"

Coco looked over her sunglasses at the articles of clothing as though observing a particularly virulent species of insect. "You're really asking me what's wrong with wearing dark blue and neon green at the same time. As a matter of fact, you're asking me what's wrong with wearing neon green, period."

"Yes!"

Coco stared at her flatly for a moment before sighing and kneading the bridge of her nose. "It's alright, Coco, it's alright. She's difficult but not hopeless. She can still learn..."

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Velvet huffed in exasperation as she threw her clothes back in the closet. "I'll wear something else... hey, what about these?"

"... oh _honey..."_

" _Why does it sound like you're pitying me!?"_

The building argument was promptly derailed by an annoyed groan coming from one of the beds. "Guys, could you keep it down?" Fox said, sounding annoyed that he had to lift his head. "Some of us are still trying to sleep. Besides, I've heard this argument over a dozen times before. It's just not interesting."

"Sorry!" both girls stage-whispered in apology. Fox grunted, head falling back onto the pillow.

Velvet sighed, bringing a hand up to pinch her brow. "Okay, look, if you disagree with my fashion sense so much, why don't you pick out my outfit for today," Velvet snapped. She immediately regretted the outburst, as Coco readjusted her sunglasses, which _somehow_ glinted despite not being mirrored.

"Gladly."

Yatsuhashi entered the room to the not unfamiliar sight of Velvet huddled behind the portable changing booth looking rather disgruntled, with Coco tearing through her wardrobe, offering a running commentary the whole time.

"I bought that one. And that one. Mm, that one's not bad. Goodness, no. Bought that one. Not bad. Huh, I could've sworn I had that thrown out. Eurgh, no, where'd you even get that?"

Velvet's glare could have melted armor steel. "That was a gift from my grandmother," she stated flatly.

Coco eyed the rather garish floral-print sundress, held at arm's length with two fingers. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Coco…" Velvet growled dangerously.

"Ahem." Both girls turned to look at Yatsuhashi. "We do still have that meeting with JNPR today." He glanced over to the prone form of Fox. "And Fox is still asleep."

" _Trying_ to stay asleep, thank you very much," came the petulant reply.

"Yeah, well, I think it's time for you to get up, Sleeping Beauty," Coco shot back.

"Yeah, no," Fox countered. "I'm going to stay here in my nice, warm bed, where my muscles aren't liable to kill me in protest."

Coco sighed, shaking her head. "I'm terribly sorry you had to act this way. Yatsuhashi?" Coco snapped her fingers, and Yatsuhashi reached down, yanked off the covers, and scooped Fox up underarm.

"Hey!" Fox yowled in protest. Yatsuhashi merely set off for the bathroom, Fox futilely battering on the larger man's back.

"He's gonna be sulking all day," Velvet observed once the door closed.

"He'll live," Coco said dismissively. She turned back to Velvet, the manic gleam back in her sunglasses. "Now, where were we?"

Velvet whimpered as Coco held up the first item.

~o~

A quick exchange of messages on their Scrolls had identified an empty classroom they could use, and the time had been set for 9:30. A few eyebrows had been raised among team JNPR when the upperclassmen had wheeled in a large whiteboard with its back to them.

"So, uh, what's the whiteboard for?" Jaune asked, his headache down to a dull throbbing.

"It's a secret!" Coco singsonged as she wheeled it over to an out-of-the-way corner.

"It has all your information on the White Fang on it, doesn't it," Ren stated flatly.

All four members of CFVY stared in shock at Ren, who just shrugged. "What? We know Velvet absolutely detests the White Fang. And that she had an older mentor, almost certainly a faunus, who ended up vanishing. Obviously, she joined the White Fang." He smirked as he took in the stunned looks from CFVY and the thumbs-up from Jaune. "This meeting, then, would be brainstorming on how to take them down."

Coco stared for another few seconds, then chuckled ruefully. "Well, I figured we wouldn't be able to keep this from for much longer, but damn!" She whistled appreciatively. "Good detective work, there."

"Thank you, thank you," Ren said, stage-bowing. Behind him, the rest of his team clapped politely, except Nora, who let out a whoop of approval.

"Anyway, yes, this is a brainstorming session to bring down the White Fang," Coco answered. "And our first order of business is to figure out how their elites fight. I'm fairly sure we ended up drawing in at least a few of their senior officers last night."

"Well, I can tell you at least one of those guys was not White Fang," Fox said. "I'm 95% certain the guy with the cane and bowler hat was Roman Torchwick, a professional thief known for his stealth, but also for his ability to fight his way out of most situations."

He scowled. "And more importantly, he's second-in-command of the Crimson Thorns, behind only the reclusive Bloody Rose herself."

"Yeah, Sun and I saw a lot of Crimson Thorns on the docks," Velvet added. "If the Thorns' second-in-command was there, they're definitely allied." She groaned, tugging lightly at her ears. "And it still makes no sense! Why would the Fang ally with some of the worst scum on the planet?!"

"Velvet, you're not thinking like a proper terrorist organization," Fox chided, though not unkindly. "The Thorns are unlikely to betray them on an organizational level; their list of crimes is as long and unpleasant as the Fang's. And-" He paused in thought. "Coco, could you flip over the Whiteboard? JNPR needs to see this."

Coco complied, revealing a messy diagram roughly boxed off into several areas. "Now, one thing we noticed when we started this was that the White Fang were moving around a lot of Dust," Fox explained, pointing to the relevant section on the whiteboard. "And an alliance with the Thorns explains where it's all coming from. The Thorns have been stealing a lot of Dust over the last few months, after all. And I'll bet money that the Thorns are also stealing military hardware for the Fang."

"It's a nice arrangement, thinking about it. The Thorns provide a somewhat steady supply of Dust and weapons for the Fang, and the Fang provide a pool of trained, experienced fighters for large-scale operations. Like that whole mess on the docks last night."

"So, it's a pragmatic thing," Velvet summarized.

"Yup," Fox agreed. "As long as they're useful to each other, they're probably not going to betray the other, and even if one of them did the other would probably try and take the other down with them, which is even more of a deterrent. Basically, we can't count on the alliance disintegrating on its own."

"Right," Coco said distractedly as she finished up the last few notes. "Velvet, how long did you fight him before he took you down?"

Velvet sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Sorry, Coco, the first thing he did was shoot me. I didn't get to attack, much less fight him."

"So, not enough data, then," Coco stated, scribbling the note ' _Find out more!'_ below a cartoonish caricature of Roman. "And the big guy?"

"Very strong," Yatsuhashi rumbled. "I could barely match him when we clashed."

"Stupidly tough," Fox added. "I pumped up Nora's strength as much as possible, and she still couldn't put him down for good. He ignored just about everything else we threw at him."

"His chainsword fits his fighting style very well," Ren continued. "It's very heavy to take advantage of his strength, and the chain blade is probably designed to chew through Aura and armor alike."

"And he's a panda faunus!" Nora added excitedly. "He said so himself!"

"Okaaay…" Coco said, before going back to the board to write ' _Really tough!'_ on it. She took another look at the note, then underlined it multiple times and added a few exclamation points. "So, some sort of elite fighter. We'll have to think of some strategies, but until then… Jaune, Pyrrha, who did you guys fight?"

Jaune scrunched his brow in concentration. "Uh, I remember bird feathers…"

He was promptly jerked out of his thoughts by Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, I'll handle this. You don't need to strain yourself."

"Oh, uh, thanks, Pyrrha... I think..." he said, wincing as he felt a metal spike drive into his skull. Luckily, it subsided quickly.

"Anyway," Pyrrha continued, sending a worried glance in Jaune's direction. "The woman we fought had rainbow bird feathers instead of hair, and wore a plague doctor's mask instead of the usual White Fang one. She seemed to be directing the White Fang assigned to loading up the Bullheads.

"Her fighting style was about battlefield control. From what I could see, her weapon was a sword that could be split into about a dozen or so small shards she could control remotely. Electrified shards. I suspect that's how it managed to resist my Semblance."

"Oh?" Coco said, suddenly interested. "What is your Semblance, then? I don't think we ever asked."

"Polarity," she answered. "I can magnetically affect metal. I usually use this to nudge weapons out of the way. That sword, though, was very resistant to my efforts to control it. I could only grab a few of the shards, and not for very long."

Coco scribbled ' _Logistics?'_ as the title, then contemplated the board. "And none of these guys could make black shadow clone thingies?"

"You fought those, too?!" Pyrrha and Ren exclaimed simultaneously. The two glanced at each other in surprise, while Velvet's expression steadily darkened.

"Blake…" the rabbit faunus growled suddenly, murder obvious in her tone.

"Wait wait wait wait wait," Fox blurted out, his eyes wide. "You don't mean _Blake fucking Belladonna_ , right?" He laughed shakily, his voice getting a slight hysterical edge to it. "Tell me you're talking about some other Blake. _Please._ "

Velvet sighed, the anger seeming to drain out of her in favor of resigned weariness. "No, it was Blake Belladonna. That Flash Clone Semblance is rather distinctive."

Jaune shuddered in his seat, headache forgotten. "Okay, I have retroactive stage fright."

"Stage frigh-?"

"You know what I mean!"

The rest of the small group nodded in agreement. After all, it wasn't every day one had a close encounter with the most dangerous and notorious criminal - nay, terrorist - on Remnant.

"Okay, how the hell are we still alive, then?" Fox wondered aloud. "You'd think the worst terrorist in the history of ever would have no compunctions about killing a bunch of teenagers."

"Personally, I'm hoping it's just that she thought she couldn't take us all before the police showed up," Coco admitted. "I… kinda don't want to think about any other reasons she might have."

"Wait!" Nora suddenly shouted. "Velvet, your mentor was Blake _Belladonna_?! How'd that happen?"

Velvet stared at Nora in shock. "Wait, how'd you-"

"Uhhh, your reactions, duh. I mean, you recognized those clone thingies immediately, and it sounded like you know her, and you had to have known her before she joined the White Fang, and Coco told us about the mentor you had and-"

"Nora, breathe," Ren ordered.

Nora sucked in a lungful of air with a loud gasp. "But anyway, it wasn't hard to put things together."

"Right…" Velvet mumbled.

" _Back on topic_ ," Coco ground out. "That probably covers a good chunk of the White Fang elite. Now, I hope I don't need to say this, but if you see Belladonna: run."

The fashionista stared each person in the audience in the eye, lingering slightly longer on Velvet. "I'm dead serious here," she continued. "I've watched the combat footage that exists of her, both from her time here at Beacon and what there is of her in the White Fang. This woman is at least on par with Beacon's teachers, and I've seen Beacon teachers fight. They're way beyond us. So if you see her? Run.

"And on that happy note!" Coco said, clapping her hands together. "We have a little excursion to hash out!"

Reaching over the whiteboard, Coco flipped a map of Vale over it, three X's marked on the map in marker. "We need more information, so the four of us put our heads together to see who we could contact for more info. As you can see-" The X in downtown was tapped. "I'll be calling my family's company to get some records to try and track weapons smuggling. The Fang have to be getting their weapons from somewhere, right?"

Velvet stood up, grabbing a capped marker and tapping another X, this one located in the commercial district. "I know a faunus named Tukson," she said. "He runs a bookstore here, and he does a good job keeping his ear to the ground. Hopefully he'll have heard of something."

"And I," Fox announced imperiously. "Know some people on the bad side of town. Coco, could you-"

Coco dutifully tapped the final X, located in a run-down part of the industrial district.

"Anyway," Fox continued. "With the White Fang now working with the Crimson Thorns, we can track what they're up to by looking at what the Thorns are doing. And since I know some people on the other side of the law-"

"More than know, I'd say," Coco snarked.

"I can talk to them and see what they know," Fox finished, shooting a glare in Coco's direction.

"Well, I'd say you have a pretty solid plan going," Ren stated, looking over the whiteboard. "Though I'm not sure what you need us for."

"Buddy system," Coco answered. "I do _not_ want us visiting these places alone, especially not after last night. And if we're sending two people to every location, one team isn't gonna be enough. We were gonna ask you guys for help once we were sure you'd gotten your teamwork down, and after last night I'd say you're ready."

Nora and Jaune grinned and gave each other a congratulatory high-five, and even Ren looked pleased at the praise.

"Um, would it be possible to add another location?"

All eyes turned to Pyrrha, who for her part didn't flinch at the sudden attention.

"What did you have in mind, Pyrrha?" Coco asked, her voice carefully even.

To the surprise of CFVY, Pyrrha blushed slightly before continuing. "I was thinking I could set up an appointment to talk to Miss- uh, Weiss. I, uh, know for a fact that she's going to be in town for the Festival. It should be fairly easy for me to get in touch with her."

Silence descended upon the room, only to be broken a second later by Velvet and Fox.

"You know Weiss Schnee?!" they exclaimed simultaneously.

"...yes?" Pyrrha answered, shifting uncomfortably.

"The CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. The youngest billionaire in the history of Remnant. One of the most physically, politically and economically powerful people in all of Remnant!" Fox continued, his voice steadily rising in volume. " _That_ Weiss Schnee?!"

"Uh..." Phyrra hesitated for a second before smiling sheepishly. "Yes?"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Fox snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Do you guys know any _other_ world leaders?!"

Slowly, Nora raised her hand, grinning widely.

"Nora," Fox said slowly and carefully. "I can't see what you're doing, but if your answer is anything other than 'No more' I don't want to hear it."

"Getting back on track," Coco growled as Nora put her hand down. "If you can actually arrange that, Pyrrha, that would be amazing. The Schnee Dust Company has been #1 on the Fang's shit list for years, they have to have all sorts juicy information on them sitting in a file cabinet or hard drive somewhere."

Adding another X over the SDC branch in the business district, she capped the pen and took a step back to look over the board. "Alright!" she said after about a minute. "All we need to do is set up the pairings, and we're good to go!"

"I think Jaune and I should go talk to Weiss together," Pyrrha said. "He's already met her, and he made a better first impression than Nora did. Besides, I think we should keep existing partners together whenever we can."

"Well said!" Fox said enthusiastically before reaching over and slinging an arm over Yatsuhashi's shoulder. "Which is why I'm going to bring Yatsu with me. That, and intimidation value."

"Hmm… I think I'll take Ren with me," Coco decided, ignoring the "Aww!" of protest from Nora. "I guess that leaves Nora to you, Velvet."

The rabbit faunus in question scowled slightly. "Sorry, Nora, but I don't think I should bring you with me," she replied, looking apologetic. "It's just… I feel Tukson would be more comfortable if we were both Faunus."

"It's fine, I don't mind," Nora replied. "I mean, I can't exactly wear animal ears and just hope he doesn't notice, right?"

That got a few chuckles out of everyone. "No, but seriously," Velvet said as the laughter subsided. "I can take Nora if I have to, but a faunus would be better. And I don't know anyone with combat training I can call, so..."

"Did someone say, 'faunus with combat training'?"

Everyone in the room shot their gazes towards the window, where Sun was hanging upside down from a tree branch. Aside from the bandages on his head and torso, he looked completely healthy. "I did say I'd drop by, didn't I?"

"Sun!" Velvet exclaimed. She blinked, then glanced in concern at his torso. "Uh, doesn't that hurt?"

"Yup!" Sun stated, just the barest hint of strain in his voice.

"Goddammit, Sun, you know that'll strain your injuries," came a voice from the doorway. The group turned back to the door in time to see a blue-haired young man wearing a red bomber jacket over a white button-down shirt and black tie, with black buckled fingerless gloves and dark pants, plus a pair of yellow goggles on his forehead and some sort of long weapon slung over his back.

"Ladies, gentlemen," he said, dipping into a short bow. "Neptune Vasilias. I'd like to apologize for my partner, who should be back at the hotel room and _not_ hanging from trees aggravating his injuries. I'll just collect him and be on my way."

"Aw, c'mon, Neptune, don't be like that," Sun complained playfully. "I don't think anyone minds us being here. Right, guys?"

"Oh my god he's hot," Nora deadpanned, staring at Neptune with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"Hellooooo prime rib," Coco concurred, absentmindedly reaching up to wipe a line of drool from the corner of her jaw.

"Uh..." Jaune looked between the two Huntresses in training warily. "Does anyone else's masculinity feel threatened?"

Ren, Fox, and Yatsuhashi looked at Jaune, glanced between themselves, and then shrugged.

"Nah, not really." They all replied simultaneously.

"Right…" Neptune deadpanned, ignoring the reactions around him. "You can't even get through that window, can you."

"Of course I can!" Sun exclaimed indignantly. Neptune simply folded his arms in front of him and waited as Sun just continued hanging from the tree. "Okay, I lied," the monkey faunus said after a few seconds. "Could somebody help me in?"

"So, how much did you hear?" Velvet asked after they had gotten Sun hauled in and seated in a chair.

"About when Sunglasses started talking about pairings," Sun replied, holding an icepack to his injured ribs. "And I totally don't mind tagging along while you talk to this 'Tukson' guy."

Velvet gave him a soft smile at that. "Thanks, Sun."

"So, uh, do you want me to do anything?" Neptune asked, looking uncomfortably at Nora and Coco.

"Actually, could you stay with Nora?" Jaune said, rubbing his temple. Unbeknownst to both, Nora's eyes had lit up, while Coco was trying to glare a hole in Jaune's back. "We don't want to leave her alone, and having a pair in reserve to bail us out if things go south would be very nice to have."

"Uh…" Neptune glanced over to the two girls, who were now head-to-head and growling at each other.

"Don't worry," Ren said, clapping a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'll make sure she doesn't do anything to you."

"Thanks, man," Neptune said, heaving a sigh of relief. "Okay, I'll go with her."

With a shout of "MINE!", Coco dove onto Nora just as she tried to glomp onto Neptune. Everyone else in the room tried their best to ignore their ongoing brawl, surreptitiously nudging any blunt objects out of their reach.

"Sounds like our plan is set," Jaune said before standing up and pumping his fist in the air. "Alright! Let's bring down the White Fang!"

"Yeah!" everyone else shouted. Suddenly, Jaune and Sun slumped over, clutching their head and side, respectively.

"When we're all better," the two groaned.

~o~

Ruby Rose sat in her office, going over the finances of the Crimson Thorns. Very few people knew just how much of running a criminal enterprise was accounting. You had to double and triple-check all inflows and outflows, make sure that the amount skimmed off was still at acceptable levels, and then reroute all the money to laundering operations. It meant a lot of time sitting in an office hunched over a stack of papers, and Ruby had gotten quite good at it over the years.

Still, that didn't mean she actually _liked_ doing it, so the knock at her door was very welcome. As was the fact that she was expecting it. Unexpected knocking on her door always meant trouble.

"Come in!" she called out, not bothering to look up from her paperwork. She heard the door open, the tell-tale click of geta sandals echoing on the concrete floor. Marking up the last entry, she looked up at her guest.

"Sorry about that, Blake," she said as she put the pen away and waved her hand to try and get rid of the writer's cramp. "Going over the finances. You know how it is."

"Yes, yes I do," Blake said wearily. "Did you expect running a criminal organization would involve so much _bureaucracy_?"

"Can't you just get your clones to do it for you?" Ruby asked with a groan as she thumped her head on the table.

Blake shook her head miserably. "I wish. I can get them to hack, slash and distract, but they're not good with anything more complicated than that."

"Well, I do have something to cheer you up," Ruby said, lifting her head off the table with an excited grin. "The latest weapon shipment arrived, and it's a _doozy_."

Blake quirked an eyebrow at that. Any weapon that got _Ruby_ excited… well. Doozy was probably an apt description. "And I assume, given that you invited me here, that you want to give me a tour."

"Yup!" Standing out of her chair, Ruby indicated the door. "If you'll follow me…"

The two made their way into the main storage area of the warehouse. Blake let out a low whistle as she took in the massive stacks of crates, one opened and displaying the rifles inside for all to see.

"Impressive. I think this might be the biggest shipment yet." Walking over to another one of the crates, she pried it open and pulled out the rocket launcher inside. "And some heavier ordnance, too." Hearing a soft snicker behind her, she turned around to see Ruby trying to muffle her laughter. "Something funny?"

"Oh, no, it's just-" Ruby took a deep breath, forcing her laughter to subside. "This is just the regular infantry stuff. Y'know, small arms, body armor, that sort of thing. No robots, though, I know you don't like 'em."

Blake scowled a little. "Too close to Grimm..." Shaking her head, she dispelled the thought and raised an eyebrow at her compatriot. "If this is just the infantry equipment, then-"

"Ah ah ah!" Ruby scolded, waving her index finger. " _That_ is a surprise! Just keep following me, Blake." And with that, Ruby turned and continued into the maze of crates, Blake following.

After a few twists and turns, they came across another mountain of crates, but these were much larger individually. In fact, they looked almost large enough to hold-

"Ruby," Blake breathed in awe. "Please tell me that's what I think it is."

Ruby grinned at her friend's awestruck expression. "Nope! It's even better. This, my friend, is a disassembled model of the brand-new gunship variant of the venerable Bullhead VTOL! Two 22-round pods for 80mm rockets, racks for eight short-range missiles, and a tri-barrelled 35mm dust-accelerated autocannon! Guaranteed to tear through any Grimm short of a Goliath, and protected by enough armor to shrug off belly hits by its own gun!"

"That's- we have an air force." A grin slowly spread its way across Blake's face. "We have an air force! No more having to beg Bullheads off of Yang, we have an air force!"

"I guess now would be a good time to mention the other three we have crated elsewhere in the warehouse?" Ruby said oh-so-innocently.

Blake whirled on Ruby and grasped her shoulders, eyes glinting. "Ruby… this is incredible. Thank you."

"Well, you should thank Yang, too, she's the one who got me the addresses of the armories holding these babies in the first place." Ruby's grin, somehow, grew even wider. "But wait, there's more!"

"More?" Blake breathed. After having to make do with minimal resources for so long… well, the sheer influx of pure military capital was staggering.

"Yup! Over there-" She indicated another stack of crates marked with orange flame symbols. "We have several tons of military-grade shaped-charge plastic explosives and enough detonators to down half of Vale."

Already Blake's mind was whirling with the possibilities. Demolition, terror, traps - hell, the excavation potential alone brought her to the edge of giggling with destructive glee.

"And the crowning jewel…" Ruby said as she sauntered over to a large object covered in a tarp. In a whirl, she whipped the tarp off, revealing the form underneath. "A dozen Atlesian Paladin mechs! Fresh off the factories, and including one inoperable parts hulk!"

Blake took in the hard lines of the mech, the buried cockpit and grey color scheme. A heavy autocannon protruded from the left arm, and attached to the left was the telltale pilot light of a flamethrower. It was sixty tons of pure mechanical menace, and she could just imagine the effect twelve of these together could have. It was... intoxicating.

Ruby frowned with concern as Blake failed to respond, starting to shiver as she stared at the mech. "Blake? Are you...?" She reached out to touch the faunus...

"MMPH!?"

And squealed in shock when she suddenly found herself wrapped up in Blake's arms and dipped parallel to the floor, Blake's lips firmly planted on her own.

After almost a full minute, Blake ended the embrace and pulled back, a rapturous grin on her face.

Ruby blinked in numb shock as she processed what had happened. "Did I feel _tongue?"_

" _Yes."_ Blake informed her bluntly, her expression unchanged.

Ruby cocked an eyebrow as she slowly managed to pry her way out of her friend's grip. "O-kay, I take it it that you're happy."

"You have _no_ idea." Blake purred liberally as she looked the mech up and down enthusiastically. "Alright, I want these in Mountain Glenn as fast as possible. How soon can your men get them all there?"

"Wh-" Ruby sputtered. "We are at a delicate stage here, and you want our heaviest assets stocked away in Mountain Glenn?!"

"Don't worry," Blake purred, walking over to another nearby crate. "Yang clearly didn't tell you _everything_ about this shipment, otherwise you wouldn't be worried." Grabbing the lid of the crate, she pried it open and beckoned Ruby over. The redhead took one look at the contents and her eyes widened in shock.

"Are those-?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yup." Blake smiled contentedly. "I am _definitely_ going to have to buy Yang a drink or three when we next meet."

Suddenly, Blake's scroll lit up with a familiar bombastic ringtone, prompting her to snap it open on instinct. "Hello?"

" _Vacuan Whiskey, if you can get it!"_

Blake drew her head back from her scroll and looked at it with a bemused expression. "You bugged our warehouse?"

A snort came over the connection. " _Uh, duh? Of course I bugged you. I bugged you, you bugged Weiss, Weiss bugged Ruby, Ruby bugged me. Everyone spies on everybody, it's how we communicate in this relationship."_

"No no, I know, I know, I was just confirming is all." Blake reassured her hastily.

" _Oh, alright then. See you later!_ _Ah! Wait, almost forgot: Stripes do_ not _look flattering on you. I suggest you go back to the ones with the mouse-!"_

Blake promptly snapped her scroll shut with a hiss, a feral growl rumbling in her chest as her face burned with equal parts fury and embarrassment. "I'm going to burn her base down one day..." She stated, her voice low and frigid. "With her in it."

"You... _do_ know that won't hurt her in the least, right?" Ruby asked bemusedly.

"It's the thought that counts." Blake muttered darkly.

"Riiiight. Anyways..." Ruby stared back into the case, a leer spreading over her lips that would have been more appropriate for a triple X magazine. "Are these... functional?"

"Strictly speaking, yes." The faunus shrugged as she tore her mind away from thoughts of vengeance. "They're all Mk. Is, prototypes. This will be their very first field test."

Ruby snapped her head up, an eager glimmer in her eyes. "And their operators?"

"Prepped and raring to go. They've been waiting for this for a long time."

"I assume you have a target in mind."

"Yeah. There's this faunus, runs a bookstore, that has too much knowledge about our operations and nowhere near enough loyalty to the cause. I've been putting it off due to other priorities, but word on the street is that he's planning to skip to Mistral soon, so I need to do something about him ASAP."

Ruby sighed as she contemplated what was in the box. "You do know this is overkill, right?"

"I don't want to hear it from you, little miss Bloody Rose."

Ruby's only response was to stick her tongue out at Blake, causing the latter to roll her eyes. "Anyway, could you at least keep the parts hulk here, at least for a few days?" Ruby continued. "It'd make a great prop for that recruitment drive Torchwick and the Lieutenant are going to start up in a few days."

"Fine, fine," Blake conceded. "They can have the stupid thing. It's inoperable anyway." Suddenly, she felt her secondary ears perk up, catching some sort of low vibration. "Uh, Ruby, your Scroll seems to be vibrating."

"What?" The redhead reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, which was indeed vibrating. "Huh. Wonder what Weiss wants. Hello?"

" _Ruby! I just had the most interesting call. Pyrrha wants a face-to-face meeting with me. And can you guess what the topic is?"_

The young mafioso grit her teeth and kneaded the bridge of her nose. "Something tells me it's not 'the good old days'..."

" _Try a certain organization with a penchant for feral motifs."_

Ruby let out a loud groan. Honestly, those students were becoming more and more of a nuisance with each passing day. In fact, hadn't they _just_ fought the White Fang the day previously?

"I assume," Ruby replied with a sigh. "That you have some sort of plan to handle this, otherwise you wouldn't be calling me."

" _Well, since they're already tearing after your little alliance, I figured we could use that to… further the deception a little more. I feed them a selective version of the truth, then you have some of your underlings ambush them after they leave, demanding to know what I told them."_

"Hmm..." Ruby contemplated this idea for a second before going stock still as a thought struck her. "Orrr..." She slowly turned a grin towards the crates. "We could take this as an opportunity to test drive an old investment of ours."

" _Wait, you don't mean-!?"_

"They're only prototypes, but this ought to be a good opportunity to gather field data, no?"

For a moment, the line was silent. " _Yes… Yes, it will be. I look forward to the show, Ruby. Goodbye."_

The second the call ended, Ruby redialed on her scroll. "Hello, Grenadier? It's me. Tell me... how would you and your team feel about _finally_ seeing some action?"

A second later, Ruby grinned viciously.

"That's what I thought you'd say."

~o~

Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy and one of the most powerful people on Remnant, sat in his office doing paperwork. It was a thankless job, but one he endured, for it allowed him to, among other things, know exactly which was the fake transcript among hundreds submitted, and carefully alter it to pass muster. Not that he'd ever tell Glynda that; she'd have his hide with that riding crop of hers, or worse, his coffee.

Still, necessary though it was, Ozpin did not enjoy the work, and the buzz of his Scroll as it received a text message was a welcome reprieve. Of course, he still braced himself. Few people were allowed to interrupt his work, and they all knew better than to do that for trivialities. A pity; it meant a steady stream of bad news and not many birthdays.

Flicking to the main screen, he started in surprise at the sender. Qrow had never been a talkative man, but ever since his nieces had dropped out of contact he had been practically mute. For him to contact Ozpin at all, let alone by text, important didn't cover it.

 _Thanks for the lead on Ruby. Definitely head of the Crimson Thorns. Currently investigating possible White Fang ties._

Sighing, Ozpin leaned back in his chair, turning his gaze to stare at a glass orb on his desk. The ornament had glyphs carved into the base. Inside the glass was a ball of mercury, endlessly melting and freezing, flowing from top to bottom.

As he contemplated the mercury, Ozpin cast his mind back, wondering where it had all gone wrong…

And perhaps whether it had ever been right in the first place.

 _~o~_

 _Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he watched the latest batch of prospective students disembark from the airship. Seeing the arrival of new students was always a joy, and this class especially had a couple of standouts. There was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust company, towing a large trolley stacked with crates of Dust. How she had convinced her father to let her attend was a mystery, and he quite looked forward to seeing her grow. That she was towing her own Dust trolley rather than using a porter was a good sign. And Yang Xiao Long, Qrow's wayward niece, long lost and recently found by her younger sister. Ozpin hoped that the family could repair at least some of the damage sustained over the last several years._

 _And then Ozpin's eyes caught a flash of red moving down the ramp of the airship. That couldn't be who he thought it was. Could it?_

 _His eyes narrowed just a fraction, and he took another sip of coffee to steady himself. Well. Couldn't hurt to go for a walk on the grounds, now could it?_

 _It was surprisingly easy to find her. Almost as if she wasn't trying to hide. As he approached, he could see her running maintenance on an large, red gunscythe. So, Qrow was telling the truth about her aptitude with the weapon._

 _The girl didn't acknowledge him, and he didn't bother to announce his presence. They both knew he was there. Finally, he stopped a few feet from her._

" _Ruby Rose." He said. "Daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long. Sister of Yang Xiao Long. Something of a prodigy in the art of the gunscythe. And a fifteen-year-old second-year student at Signal."_

 _He took another sip of his coffee, noting that Ruby had focused her whole attention on him. Good. "I have to wonder what you are doing here, Miss Rose. Surely not to see your sister off. You would have done that on the Vale side. And the only other reason you would be here would be to attend Beacon early, despite not having been marked for such an achievement."_

 _For a moment, Ruby didn't say anything, and then she swept the hood off her head, showing her face. Ozpin froze as he saw her eyes. Silver eyes, glinting in the light. "I know I'm not officially allowed to enroll early, headmaster. But that's not what I'm here for. I'm just here to participate in the initiation. What you do next..."_

 _She smiled. A pure gesture, full of innocence._

" _Is up to you."_

~o~

She had surprised him, then. She surprised him during the initiation as well, where she performed like a veteran Huntress and not the underage rookie she was.

And then she surprised him again when she vanished. He had been the last to see her. Or, at least, that's what he thought. And her eyes. They were silver, yes… but not pure silver. Quicksilver. Cold, mercurial… Deadly.

And then she had vanished, never to be seen again. Until bare months ago, when she had aided a nefarious criminal in his escape, fired upon Glynda in cold blood with every intention of killing her.

And now… now he knew she was the one behind the Bloody Rose murders. Behind the criminal organization that had ruined so many lives. Where? Where had it gone wrong?

The orb of mercury offered no answer. And as Ozpin stared into its depths, a thought occurred to him.

' _I wonder. Her eyes… are they still quicksilver?'_


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Team CFVY were all third-year students at Beacon. They had gone on well over a dozen missions over the course of their schooling, ranging from search and destroy to combing through ancient ruins bristling with traps and Grimm. Theoretically, none of them had any viable reasons to have pre-mission jitters for a relatively straightforward information-gathering mission that wouldn't take them outside Vale.

Apparently Velvet, who was doing her best to wear a groove in the floor of their dorm room as she waited for the rest of the group to show up, had not received the memo on the subject.

"Where are they?" she hissed anxiously under her breath, tapping the small brown box she had strapped to her side by its handle.

"Velvet, we've still got-" Coco turned on her Scroll and checked the clock. "Ten minutes until the time we agreed to. Don't worry, they'll get here before long."

"Hopefully before your pacing drives us all mad." Coco snapped her head around to give Fox a dirty look, prompting him to hastily amend his statement. "I mean, before it drives me mad." The second his leader looked away, he adopted a shit-eating smirk. "After all, I'm sure that miss Fashionable Firepower over there could watch your ass move for _hours."_

As a deathly chill fell over the room, Fox had the chance to think one last thought:

' _Worth it.'_

Ten seconds later, he retracted that thought. With _gusto._

~o~

"Whee!" Nora squealed as she dashed to and fro along the hall. "This is gonna be so much _fun!_ We can go get ice cream and compare weapons and see who's killed more Grimm, and then, if we're really lucky, we get to go bash someone's face in! Oh, this is gonna be such a good day!"

"Uh, Ren?" Jaune said, his head practically on a swivel as he tried to keep track of Nora. "No offense, but how is this making sure she doesn't do anything to him?"

"Jaune," Ren stated with all the Zen of a Mistralian monk. "This is tame compared to the last time she got fixated on a guy."

Jaune tried to imagine Nora being even more hyperactively possessive. His brain immediately shut down that line of thought to keep his sanity intact. "I'll, uh, take your word for it." He suddenly jerked back as a manically grinning Nora popped up not two inches in front of his face.

"Hey, we're here!" Nora said cheerfully, pointing to the door. "I wonder if we got here first?"

"Nora, personal space," Ren stated, gently tugging her away from Jaune, still babbling.

"Right, that happened," Jaune muttered. Pyrrha's steady hand landing on his shoulder helped calm his nerves, and he grasped the door handle, opening the door.

And came upon the scene of Yatsuhashi holding _someone_ out the window by their ankle, with Coco seemingly trying to coax a closet.

Pyhrra stared at the scene for a moment before sighing and dropping her face into her hand. "Do I even _want_ to ask?" she groaned.

"Coco's been trying to get Velvet to come out of the closet!" Fox's all-too-amused voice filtered in through the window.

An embarrassed wail came out of the closet in question, prompting Coco to spin on her heel and snarl at the window, her fury making it hard to determine whether the blood in her cheeks was from anger or... something else. But before she could say anything...

"Figuratively as well as literally?" Ren cocked an eyebrow at the horrified looks Jaune and Pyrrha were shooting him. "What? I'm curious."

"Lie Ren, I swear to _god_ I will-!"

"Buddy, she's been trying for about as long as she's known her."

"I WILL _SKIN_ _YOU ALIVE AND DIP YOU IN SALT_ , YOU BLIND SON OF A-!"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Coco spun around, her face an interesting mix of white and deep red, like she couldn't decide whether to go ashen or blush furiously. "I-I, um, uh- t-t-this isn't-!"

Neptune's serious expression cracked into an amused smile and a few chuckles as he took in the scene. "Man, Sun wasn't exaggerating when he said you guys were fun."

"Told ya so!" the faunus in question called from the window where he was hanging from a branch and looking down at Fox. "Please tell me you got photos."

"Uh, of _course_ I got photos," Fox said, sounding insulted at the idea Sun even needed to ask. "And they're set up to go live across the Kingdoms from backups in case someone deletes the originals. By the way." Fox tilted his body and eyed Sun suspiciously. "Do you usually hang outside of dorm windows where teenage girls live and change clothes?"

"Only since they stopped letting me in the front door."

Fox snorted. "Can't argue with that logic," he said with an upside down shrug. "Oh, uh, Yatsu, would you mind letting me in now? The blood's rushing to my head and it's making me dizzy."

"DON'T YOU DARE, YATSUHASHI! DON'T YOU FUCKING-"

"Hey, is that the time?" Neptune hollered, checking his wrist with an exaggerated motion and expression. "Man, we'd better get going or else-!"

The closet doors burst open, a blur of brown slamming into Coco and then making a beeline out the door, dragging the fashionista along with it.

"Hey, wasn't Velvet's partner in this little expedition supposed to be me?" Sun asked innocently.

"We... can probably get oriented in the Bullheads. I... guess we'd better follow them. For the sake of the plan, of course," Jaune replied, smiling indulgently.

The eight students filed out after their wayward teammates, Fox still trying to get his circulation back in his legs as Yatsuhashi hauled him back inside.

~o~

"That was awful," Coco moaned as she and Ren walked to Vale's CCT tower. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

It had taken five minutes to corral Velvet and pry her off Coco, and the whole time she had been unable to get herself out of the faunus' iron grip. Coupled with her previous actions regarding Velvet and closets…

"No, probably not," Ren deadpanned.

"Oh God," she groaned, dropping her head in her hands. "I really, really hope my mother doesn't find out about this. That's a conversation I'd really rather avoid."

Ren quirked an eyebrow at that. "Is she really that bad?"

"I... don't want to talk about this," she replied with a sigh. "Let's just say she's a passive-aggressive bitch and leave it at that, okay? And now…" Her trademark grin returned full force. "Emergency change of subject! I saw Nora raise her hand when Fox asked if you guys knew anyone else important." She adjusted her glasses, allowing them to catch the sunlight and glint for a second. "So? Who is it?"

"Uh, can it wait a few minutes?" Ren said. "I only say that because… we're here."

Sure enough, at the top of one more flight of stairs stood the CCT tower, the city's hub for inter-Kingdom wireless communications. It was the tallest building in Vale, and indeed, they were only kept from being the tallest in all the Kingdoms by the Schnee Dust Company's main headquarters, roundly criticized as a 'vanity project' on the part of the previous CEO by the papers. And some other nicknames not to be repeated in polite company.

"Huh. So we are," Coco noted in surprise. "Was I that out of it?"

Ren nodded an affirmative.

"Ah, jeez," Coco groaned. "I gotta get my act together. Okay, give me one second." Taking a deep breath, Coco slapped her cheeks and exhaled. Done, she once more looked like the fun-loving, controlled Huntress Ren was more familiar with. "Let's go."

The two entered the building and made their way into the elevator on the far side of the lobby, going past the central spire with its few monitors.

"Welcome to the CCT," came the voice of the operator. "How may I help you?"

"Communications center, please," Coco answered tersely, holding her Scroll before the panel. For a moment, the two stood in silence before the operator's voice returned.

"Perfect! Thank you, Miss Adel."

Coco rolled her eyes as the elevator started to ascend. "If I ever find the big wig who got _that_ bit incorporated..." Swapping tracks, she shot a grin at Ren. "Anyways, you didn't actually answer my question."

"That wasn't my intention," Ren assured her. "What do you know about the Dust Devils?"

Coco blinked at the apparent non-sequitur, but decided to play along. "They're one of the largest private military organizations in Remnant, and easily in the top ten strongest, though rumors say that they're moving to the top of both lists fast. Led by General Yang 'Burning Gold' Xiao Long, they take in veteran soldiers, Hunter dropouts, and green volunteers who they _train_ into soldiers, which is an impressive feat. And, thanks to their close relationship with the SDC, they're very well equipped." She narrowed her eyes at Ren. "Don't tell me you guys-"

"When Nora and I were at Signal," Ren interrupted. "We were given a mission to clean out a nest of King Taijitu alongside a sizeable force of Dust Devils hired for the job. General Xiao Long was among them, and apparently she has a long memory. When we met Weiss Schnee, she remembered Nora by name. And…" He grimaced. "Nora kind of… idolizes her."

Coco let out a low whistle of awe. "On good terms with both one of the richest _and_ one of the most militarily-influential people on the planet. Now _that_ is impressive."

"While all _you_ get is a personal grudge against the official public enemy number one?" Ren asked innocently.

"Touché..."

Both fell into the usual awkward silence of elevator rides, studiously looking anywhere but at each other. As usual, the elevator ride seemed agonizingly long, and the relief when the elevator stopped at the floor they wanted was palpable.

"I swear, the wait gets longer every time I ride that elevator," Coco grumbled as she walked up to the help desk. The holographic form of the help clerk, transmitted from wherever she sat, fuzzed into existence as she got closer.

"Welcome to the Cross Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?"

"I'd like to place a call to Adel Inc. Global Headquarters in Mistral."

"Absolutely." The clerk tapped a few commands into her computer before looking up again. "If you could head over to terminal 12 I can patch you through."

"Thank you," Coco said. Beckoning Ren to follow, the two made their way over to the aforementioned terminal.

"So, are you calling one of your family?" Ren asked as Coco sat down at the terminal.

" _God_ , no," Coco shuddered, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "I mentioned my mother, right? Well, the rest of my family is only marginally better. I have a friend who works in Comms, covering all communications with Vale. Hopefully I can get this information without anyone in my family finding out."

" _Isn't my daughter a_ wonderful _girl, Mister Lie?"_

Coco's jaw tensed shut with a click as the image on the screen resolved not into the bespectacled face of her friend in Comms, but into the stern face of her mother, framed by brown hair streaked with grey and extensive frown lines. "Hello, mother."

" _I have to wonder what you are calling about, my dear, considering the only reason you've bothered to call me in the past three years has been to request advances on your allowance."_

The Adel matriarch folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, staring down her nose at her daughter. " _In fact, what was it you said to me as you departed for Beacon? Oh, yes, it was 'Don't call me, just send money.' Such a wonderful_ , wonderful _daughter."_

Coco was faintly aware of the fact that she seemed to be grinding her teeth. "Where's Connie?"

" _What, do you think I did something to her?"_ The woman's voice took on a barely passable tone of hurt. " _I just told her to take an unscheduled break. I'm not like one of those Schnee fellows."_

Coco forced herself to take a deep breath and try and calm down. A show of weakness, perhaps, but frankly she didn't care. "Okay. In that case, I need as much of the tracking data for weapons shipments in the last six months or so as I can."

" _Hmm. Is my darling daughter planning to start a revolution? Or prevent one?"_ Coco's mother swiftly shrugged and waved her hand carelessly. " _Well, regardless, I'll get you that information. It's so nice to see my daughter finally take an interest in the family business."_

This time, Coco couldn't help the outburst, slamming her palms on the table furiously. "Excuse me?! I've had an interest in it my whole life! I know the guns, I know the specs, what more do you want?!"

" _So superficial."_ The woman somehow had the gall to sound _disappointed_. " _I'll send you the information within the week. You'll have to tell me all about what you do with it. I sense quite the story there."_

"Goodbye," Coco ground out through gritted teeth, reaching out to end the call.

" _Oh, and do remember to tell me when you've finally bedded that faunus teammate you've been lusting over like a-!"_

SMASH!

Ren was jerked out of his awe at the conversation by Coco putting her fist through the computer screen, her face a rictus of both apoplectic fury and embarrassment.

"So..." he finally managed to get out. "That was your-?"

"Demon queen who provided the egg from which I was born?" Coco asked frigidly as she jerked her forearm out of the devastated terminal. "Yes, it was." She slowly turned her head to stare at him, her expression pointedly blank. "If you ever mention that to anyone..."

"Graymatter over a ten mile radius?"

"As a _start."_

"My lips are sealed."

Sighing, Coco stood up out of the chair, shaking her hand. "Let's get outta here. I have some misplaced aggression I need to work off."

Nodding, Ren followed her as they headed back to the elevators, Coco pointedly ignoring the clerk when she said goodbye to them. Ren was only able to give her an apologetic smile before he had to rush to enter the elevator before the doors closed.

The ride down was spent in another awkward silence. At several points Ren silently debated whether to bring up what he had just seen - but seeing Coco fiddling with her handbag silenced those thoughts in a hurry every time.

"What's got you so tense?" Coco finally asked after almost a minute of the cycle.

This time, Ren decided to go for broke. She was the one asking, after all, she couldn't hold it against him! Hopefully... "I was just giving you some space after that... well, that." He braced himself for a possible outburst.

To his profound relief, Coco merely cocked her head and gave him a dumbfounded look. "Why would I need space for that?"

"Uh... because that was one of the worst parent-child fights I've ever seen?"

Coco blinked beneath her sunglasses before shrugging and looking forwards. "Oh, _that._ Psh, please. Believe it or not, that was one of the most civil conversations I've had with my mother in years." Seeing the disbelieving look on his face, she heaved a put-upon sigh. "And yes, I know how fucked up that is. The rest of my teammates have told me enough stories about their families to teach me that. Believe me, though, it could be worse. You do _not_ want to see what a conversation between her and dad looks like."

Ren hastily caught himself from contemplating what _that_ verbal warzone would look like with a shiver. "Noted..."

Meanwhile, Coco's lips had fallen into a frown as she stared at nothing. "No, the reason I'm tense is... well, call it a gut feeling."

"Is that why you keep tapping your bag?" Ren asked as the elevator reached the ground floor, the doors opening.

"What?" Coco yelped, glancing down at her hand before gritting her teeth. "Oh, shit, I am." She promptly strode out of the elevator at a pace that would be more recognizable in a jog. "That's not good, not good at all. If I'm this tense, then shit is _really_ about to hit the fan..."

Coco's scroll chose that exact moment to start ringing, the old pop hit 'Cottontail Rabbit' blaring from the speakers.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that's Velvet calling," Ren deadpanned, grinning.

Coco snapped her fingers and pointed at him as she fished the device out. "Graymatter! Ten mile radius!" Ren raised his hands in innocent surrender as she finally pulled it out, hitting the answer button and putting it up to her ear.

"Velvet? What's u-?"

" _Coco! We need help! We got there, and Tukson was getting dragged out of the store by a bunch of White Fang soldiers and then he was knocked into a van by some sort of blur and then his store exploded and the van is driving off and-"_

"Velvet, breathe!" Coco barked into the device as she took the stairs two at a time. "Now, slow down and tell me, calmly and carefully, what's going on."

Suddenly, the ding of another Scroll getting a text message caught her attention. She looked around to see a puzzled Ren fishing his Scroll out of his pocket. Turning on the screen, his eyes suddenly widened and he stopped dead in his tracks as he read the message.

"Velvet, are you in imminent danger right now?" Coco asked, frowning.

" _Uh, no? Wait, Coco, don't-"_

"I'll only be a few seconds, just need to check with Ren on something," the fashionista assured her friend. "Ren, who's it from?"

"It's from Nora," he answered. "It's- You should just see it."

Taking the Scroll from his outstretched hand, Coco took in the message. And felt her eyes widen, too.

 _Hey, Ren, just wanted to let ya know that we're gonna go help Fox and Yatsuhashi._

 _They said something about a sniper and drones everywhere._

 _Wish me luck! ;)_

"Okay…" Coco said faintly. "Good call, gut."

~o~

"Miss Schnee will see you now, Miss Nikos."

Nodding, Pyrrha and Jaune got up from where they were sitting and headed over to the elevators. Pressing the button for the top floor, they settled in for a quick elevator ride.

"So, uh, Jaune, I don't believe you told me where you got your weapon," Pyrrha began.

"Oh, Crocea Mors?" He tapped the sheathed sword at his hip. "It was my grandfather's, back when he was an active Hunter. I… kinda nicked it from where it was stored when I went to Beacon." He chuckled nervously. "My parents are gonna kill me when they find out..."

"Did they know you were planning this, or…?"

"Oh heck no! They would've grounded me so fast my head would still be spinning," he frantically denied, waving his hands. "Besides, they didn't want me to be a Hunter. Not with seven older sisters all training to be or already are Huntresses themselves."

"Well..." Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "What _did_ they want you to be? A farmer or something?"

The two stared at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

"Ha! A farmer!" Jaune laughed. "Can you picture me as a farmer?"

"Actually, I think the look fits you surprisingly well," Pyrrha replied, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Please don't mention that to my parents if you ever meet them. It might give them ideas," Jaune pleaded in mock anguish. "But yeah. They never told me, but probably something in the 'or else' category."

Pyrrha's response was interrupted before it could begin by the ding of the elevator announcing that they had arrived. Pyrrha gulped, suddenly nervous, and stepped out of the elevator into the sumptuous waiting room, Jaune following behind her. The room was little changed from their last visit, aside from Cinder Fall sitting behind the reception desk doing paperwork of some kind.

"Good, you're early," the raven-haired woman said as they walked in, not even looking up from the sheafs of paper she was examining. "Miss Schnee is in a meeting with another client, so if you could sit down and wait for a few-"

The door to Weiss' office burst open, a man in a suit a size too small for him and with a face the approximate shade of a ripe tomato stormed out.

"This won't be the last you'll hear of me, Schnee!" he called over his shoulder as he swept past Pyrrha and Jaune.

"And I'm sure it'll go just as well as this time, Mr. Erie!" came the reply, just as he got in the elevator. His curses were mostly muffled by the doors, and after a few seconds were gone entirely.

"Correction. Miss Schnee will see you now," Cinder amended, going back to her paperwork. "Feel free to go in now."

"Pyrrha! So good to see you again," Weiss said as they entered the office. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, some people in the world of business can be _such_ sore losers." She directed a smile at the other Hunter in training. "And hello to you as well, Jaune. I'm glad to see that you're travelling in pairs, considering who you're investigating. I certainly wouldn't want you to fall prey to any White Fang assassins."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock. "How did you-"

"Please, darling, I know everything," Weiss drawled, projecting an air of mystery.

"Also, I told her what a friend of mine in the Vale PD told me."

" _Thank you_ , Miss Fall, that will be all!" Weiss bit out with a glare before redirecting a beatific expression at Pyrrha. "Besides, I also got the insider scoop on that whole mess on the docks last week. I have to thank you and your team for helping stop the White Fang before they made off with my entire shipment."

"Uh, t-thank you, Weiss."

"See, I knew I'd get you on first-name basis with me," Weiss said cheerfully. Reaching under her desk, she pulled out a rather thick folder filled with documents and a small thumb drive. "I took the liberty of preparing as much relevant material as I could. Just make sure the computer you hook the drive up to isn't connected to any networks. The White Fang have a fairly strong cyberwarfare team, and it'd be just like them to monitor the whole network for any information leaks."

"I'll… keep that in mind," Pyrrha said uneasily, taking the proffered documents.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, how do you plan to take them down, exactly?" Weiss said, leaning forward and clasping her hands together.

"We were planning to find wherever their main headquarters is, and then call in the authorities," Pyrrha stated. "I don't think any of us really expect to be able to take down the White Fang on our own."

Weiss nodded, leaning back in her chair. "Good, good. That's not only safer, but I want justice against them, not revenge." She glanced over to Jaune, whose eyes were narrowed in thought. "Something to add, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune jerked out of his thoughts, shaking his head. "Uh, just a little surprised. Given what the White Fang have done to your family…"

Weiss sighed and raised a hand, cutting Jaune off in the process. "Mr. Arc, I saw what labor conditions were like in my father's mines. I completely understand why the White Fang have a grudge against my company and my family." She scowled, fingering the hilt of her sword. "I don't condone it, and I very much want to drag them into a courthouse and smack them with the full power of the law, but I do understand it. What my immediate family did to them was deplorable. All I can do is hope to stop the cycle of revenge with me."

Weiss schooled her expression back into a friendly smile as Jaune and Pyrrha glanced uneasily at each other. "Well. That got maudlin in a hurry, didn't it? Let's talk about something a little lighter. Tell me about this other team I heard you were working with…"

"Actually, _I_ was the one who heard it."

" _THANK YOU, Miss Fall!"_

~o~

"Well, I'd say that went well," Jaune said as he and Pyrrha exited the SDC building, the young champion leafing through their prize eagerly. "So what's in the folder, anyway?"

"Jaune, you wouldn't believe it!" Pyrrha answered breathlessly, not looking up from the documents. "These are dossiers on the senior White Fang members! And it includes their combat abilities!"

Jaune whistled in admiration as he contemplated the implications. "Man, Coco's gonna _love_ that, huh? What does it say on that bird-feather lady?"

"Well, for starters, she's some sort of logistics officer, and-" The redhead suddenly stiffened as _something_ pinged her combat instincts. "We're being watched."

"What are you-" Jaune stiffened, too, as his own, still developing, combat instincts announced themselves, too. "Wow, that's weird. Can you tell where it's coming from?"

Pyrrha scanned the street. A few cars parked, a few pedestrians. A few suited businessmen, a woman in running clothes jogging down the other sidewalk, a quartet of teenage guys ogling her, a blond woman in expensive designer clothes-

Who was subtly beckoning them towards a nearby alleyway.

"Do you think we should follow her?" Jaune asked in a low voice.

"Hmm… I think so. She certainly doesn't fit the profile of either the Fang or the Thorns." She turned and smiled at Jaune. "I'm impressed you caught that."

"Well, y'know, seven sisters and all. You learn to read the body language. It's either that or have the wrong unspoken conversation fly right over your head. Then you wind up dripping with... _eurgh..._ "

The two followed the blond woman as she ducked into the alley, then through a bewildering series of turns between the buildings before finally coming out on another street. The woman entered a nearby cafe, and Jaune and Pyrrha only hesitated a second before doing the same.

They entered to find the woman seated at the back of the cafe, looking over a menu. The two headed over to the table and sat down, not touching the menus.

The woman hummed behind the menu before pulling it down to see them. "Do you mind Jasmine tea? I don't know your tastes, so…" Pyrrha tensed minutely at the voice, her eyes sweeping up and down the woman as she attempted to affirm something.

"Jasmine is fine," Jaune replied.

"I'll have water, thanks," Pyrrha replied in a frosty tone, prompting Jaune to glance at her in puzzlement. "What do you want from us?"

"Straight to the point, I see," the blond woman chuckled. "I can see why my sister likes you." Reaching up, she grasped her hair and pulled it off, revealing it to be a wig. Underneath was a familiar shock of white hair, pulled into a flat bun.

"My name is Winter Schnee," she said. "And you need to stay away from my sister if you want to live."

Pyrrha stayed seated, scowling, for but a moment before abruptly standing up from her chair and turning towards the door. "We're done here, Jaune."

"Wait!" Winter snapped, rising to her feet with a scowl. "You don't know-!"

" _I know enough."_ Pyrrha countered in a tone frosty enough to freeze a giant Nevermore.

"Uh, Pyrrha-?" Jaune started, reaching up to stop her.

"Jaune, whatever this woman has to say, it's not worth it," Pyrrha ground out as she glared over her shoulder at the elder Schnee.

"I have done _nothing_ to earn this degree of enmity!" Winter hissed furiously.

The young championess spun around and stared Winter straight in the eye, revulsion burning in her expression. " _Wunderland,"_ she spat venomously.

Winter instantly bristled, her face coloring with rage. "My involvement with... with that _travesty,"_ she snarled. "Was blown _entirely_ out of proportion by- by the media, and the authorities, and-and-and that little _hellion_ of a-!"

 _CLICK!_

She cut herself off instantly as she stared down the barrel of the gun held a few inches from her face.

"Finish that sentence." Pyrrha ordered flatly, her hand trembling slightly from the sheer intensity of her grip on Milo. "Give. Me. A reason."

Pyrrha flinched as a hand alighted onto her shoulder, gripping with surprising force. "Pyrrha, put it down. Now." There was a hard edge to Jaune's voice, unfamiliar and unwelcome.

"But-!"

" _Now."_

Pyrrha looked into his eyes, icy cold. It was completely unlike any side of Jaune she'd seen, and slowly, almost against her will, she complied, lowering her rifle and removing her finger from the trigger.

"Ah, thank you, Mr. Arc," Winter said, going back to her original placid calm. "Now, if you could sit down, we can all talk like civilized-"

"Yeah, no, not unless you give us a very good reason," Jaune countered, interrupting her. "Because while I really don't want guns stuck in anyone's faces today, Pyrrha's right. You really haven't given us any reason to listen to you, and if she doesn't trust you, then _I_ don't trust you, so..."

Winter scowled, her face falling into a dark fury. Pulling up her handbag, she fished out a tablet and turned it on, mashing a few buttons, and then handed it to Jaune, who took it without a word.

The screen was showing some sort of camera feed, and the image on it was a familiar one. Well, mostly familiar.

"Jaune, isn't that where Winter found us?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, it is." He gulped. "The vans and the guys in the grey-and-red hoodies are new."

Jaune had just finished his sentence when an armored semi-truck with a pitch-black trailer moved into the camera view, slowly easing into a parking spot next to the sidewalk. One of the men in hoodies went up to the back of the trailer and presumably opened it, but on account of the camera's angle, none of the observers were able to get a look at what was inside.

They _did,_ however, watch with no small amount of trepidation as the trailer shuddered and tilted, it's weight shifting as something heavy went from the back of the trailer to the opening. The man in the hoodie, on the other hand, had a clear view, and was obviously terrified by whatever he saw, if the way he was quaking in his boots was anything to go by.

"W-what's in there?" Jaune asked nervously.

"I don't know..." Pyrrha swallowed, cold sweat trickling down her neck.

His question was answered when a black blur shot out from the trailer, grabbing the hapless thug's head and dragging him inside. A few seconds later, the man was tossed back out onto the street, scrambling away as best as he could with an arm and a leg that were _clearly_ broken, if the bones poking out of his skin were any indication.

"Well you obviously don't want to find out." Winter sneered, watching as the Thorns hastily piled into their vans and tore off, the semi following them.

She then returned the tablet to her purse before looking at half of team JNPR in disdain. "So. Since I saved you from a terrible fate at the hands of that… thing, why don't you sit down so we can have a conversation like civilized human beings." Her tone of voice suggested it wasn't even remotely a request.

A glance passed between the two Hunters-in-training, and they both sat down, still pale from what they had seen. While Jaune had a carefully neutral expression, Pyrrha was outright scowling at the other woman.

"So, what do you want to talk to us about that's so important?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, that can wait one moment," Winter replied as a waiter walked up to their table. "A pot of jasmine with three cups, please, and one of your vanilla tarts. Thank you!" She sighed wistfully as the waiter departed with her order. "Ah, I do so love their vanilla tarts here. Terrible for my waistline, but everyone should have an indulgence they feed from time to time."

"What. Do you. _Want._ " Pyrrha ground out.

"I'm sure it can wait until the tea arrives." At the look on Pyrrha's face, Winter hastily backpedaled. "Fine, I suppose we might as well start now. Basically? I strongly recommend you stop associating with my sister. If you have any interest in your continued health, anyways."

There was a brief second in which no one dared move, before Pyrrha's glare towards Winter redoubled. "Explain, now," she snarled. "Or else Milo comes back out."

"Pyrrha!"

"I won't kill her. But she won't walk again, either."

"One moment. The tea is here." The waiter from before placed the pot in the middle of the table, and cups in front of each seat, as well as the vanilla tart, before walking away. Winter took the pot and poured herself a cup, and took a sip, sighing in contentment. "Ah, so good." She glanced at her two guests and indicated the teapot. "Would you like any?"

" _Get. On. With it."_

"Fine, fine. So impatient," Winter tittered, taking another sip. "Has Weiss ever told how she took control of the company?"

"Yes, she has," Pyrrha stated flatly. "I imagine it wasn't difficult for her to convince the board to oust your father after the _Wunderland_ scandal."

"Father did completely bungle that particular crisis," Winter agreed, her face twisting into a disgusted grimace. "He deserved some sort of retribution for that, on that we can agree. But being fired as CEO? The old board never would have stood for it." She smirked as she saw Pyrrha's eyes widen. "Yes, old board. Longtime friends of the family, the descendants of the original investors that got the Schnee Dust Company on the map."

Winter scowled, her hands clenching furiously on her cup. "And Weiss callously stamped on their loyalty by removing all of them and installing a new board in their place. One composed of outsiders-" And here she spat the word as if the act of saying it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Quite willing to vote father out of the CEO position to get their 'White Queen' on top. Now there isn't so much a 'board' as there is a group of yes-men.

"My sister sees people as _tools_." Winter stopped to primly sip her tea before continuing. "They are useful only as long as they work towards her end goal. You, my dear," and here she pointed at Pyrrha. "Are nothing more than a feel-good publicity stunt."

To the surprise of both Jaune and Winter, Pyrrha didn't erupt into anger this time. "You're wrong," she stated simply, looking at Winter with - was that pity? "That's how _you_ think. And you're so close-minded that you think everyone else is that way, too."

Now it was Winter's turn to glare daggers at the other woman at the table. "I doubt that. But if that won't convince you, perhaps this will." Reaching into her bag again, she pulled out a glossy photograph, sliding it over to Pyrrha. The red-head glanced at it with disdain... before her eyes widened in shock, snatching the picture from Winter's hands.

"T-this..." Pyrrha shuddered heavily. "This is..."

"The truth." Winter drawled frigidly. "Plain and unvarnished."

Jaune looked over Pyrrha's shoulder at the image and promptly hissed in a breath. The picture had obviously been taken in one of the Schnee Dust mines, from the crystals poking out of the walls and the Schnee sigils festooned on every piece of equipment. But that wasn't what caught his attention. No, it was the quartet of faunus, dirty and gaunt in ragged clothing, one with a poorly applied blood-stained bandage wrapped around his head. Not to mention those wall supports were pretty clearly not up to code.

Scrawled on the bottom of the photograph was a handwritten note that read ' _Shangri-La',_ plus a date. A very _recent_ date.

"I took that photograph a month ago, during an inspection of the Shangri-La mine in Atlas." Winter shrugged as she swirled her tea. "My sister might have my father and I under virtual house arrest, but she is far from my keeper, and my name _does_ still bear weight."

"This- This can't- she wouldn't-"

"Ah, yes, denial. That's stage one, isn't it? I wonder how long it will take her to reach anger."

Jaune snapped a look at the elder Schnee sibling. "Hey, that's-!"

"Mayhaps it will be sooner if I remind her that my..." Winter sneered as though she tasted something vile. " _Dear sister_ intended for the two of you to be ambushed by the Thorns and then either beaten within an inch of your life or killed, hm?"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Pyrrha roared, sending her seat clattering away as she snapped to her feet and slammed her palms on the table.

"Ah, there it is." Winter smiled frostily.

"Those men..." Pyrrha snarled. "Were a _coincidence._ Weiss has been _helping_ us. She gave us information on the White Fang, she's our _ally-!"_

"Oh, is she now? May I?" Winter didn't wait for a response before snatching the dossier from Pyrrha and flicking it open, eagerly scanning the contents."

"Hey, wait a-!" Jaune made to snatch the folder back...

"Dead."

Before being frozen by Winter's voice. "...wha?" he asked intelligently.

"This man's dead," Winter clarified, pointing at a page. "Gunned down by Vacuan police, oh, a year ago?" She flipped to another page. "Dead, dead, life sentence, dead, dead, suffocated on a banana, crippled, dead, in a coma, arrested for public indecency last week, though it's being kept quiet... _Oh,_ now this looks valid!" Winter smiled as she pulled her Scroll out and snapped a few pictures of the document in question. "Should be worth something to the Vale Council, with any luck... anyways, dead, de- HEY!" She cried as Pyrrha ripped the dossier out of her hands.

"What the hell are you trying to prove?" the young gladiator growled.

Winter glared at her for a second before sniffing and carving out a bite of tart. "My point. As I said, my sister set you up. She provided you with useless intelligence while touting it as critical intel on the Fang. In response, the Thorns attempted to attack you and steal the information back with whatever that thing was, and would no doubt have shown their hand in the process. In a sentence, my darling?" The tart crumbled in Winter's suddenly iron grip. "My sister used you as _bait."_

For a moment, silence descended onto the table, broken only by Winter taking another sip of her tea.

"Are you done?" Jaune asked frostily.

"Mm, yes, that's all I have," Winter replied, primly wiping bits of tart off her hands.

"Then we'll be going," Jaune said, his voice getting a dangerous edge to it. "Before I lose my temper myself."

Winter smirked as the two stood up to leave. "Don't worry, you're free to leave. Hopefully you'll have come to your senses when next we meet. Oh, and don't worry about the tab, I'll handle it."

Jaune paused as they started to leave, and sent one final comment over his shoulder. "I can see why Weiss was appointed as CEO instead of you." And with that parting shot, he followed Pyrrha out the front door.

Winter was still scowling when the Maitre'd came up to her table. "Pardon my impudence Madam Schnee, but... what, exactly, did that accomplish?"

The scowl fell away, replaced by a smug, victorious smile as she tipped back another sip from her cup. "The red-head, Pyrrha, was it? She took the photograph with her."

~o~

The two Hunters-in-training walked down the sidewalk in something of a daze, still trying to process the conversation they'd just been in. In fact, Jaune noticed with some concern, Pyrrha was still staring at the photograph Winter had given them.

"Uh, Pyrrha? Are you alright?"

"No I'm not, Jaune," she sniffed, her voice sounding wet and heavy. "You know how important Weiss is to me. That she could be- could be-" She let out another loud sniffle, clearly seconds away from crying.

Jaune, for his part, had little idea of what to do. His sisters had always been the one comforting him, not the other way around. He glanced at the photo again. Maybe…

"Don't worry, Pyrrha," he said, with more certainty than he felt. "We'll figure this out. Maybe the photo is a fake or something. And we still have that thumbdrive Weiss gave us. That'll probably have better information. So don't worry about it, okay?"

Pyrrha gave one more sniff, then wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Jaune."

"Hey, no problem! I-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his Scroll ringing. Puzzled, he fished it out of his pocket. It was from Coco. Curiosity now thoroughly sparked, he hit the answer button. "Hey, Coco. What's up?"

" _Jaune, we've got a crisis on our hands!"_ The sound of Coco's voice was almost drowned out by the wind whistling in the speaker. " _I need you and Pyrrha to meet us at… Damn it, Ren, where are they-? The old Schnee factory on Vale and 22nd!"_

"Wait, Coco, what's going-"

" _No- agh!"_ The sound of gunfire rang out over the connection. " _Not in a position to explain! I'll call you back when I get the chance! Just be ready for a fight, these bastards are cra- SONNUVA-!"_ An explosion rang out right before the call dropped.

"Coco!" Jaune stared at his Scroll in disbelief. "We need to go!"

Pyrrha didn't waste a second wondering what was going on. "Where to?"

"Coco said Vale and 22nd," he replied, taking a deep breath to brace himself. "I know where that is. Follow me."

~o~

"No, we're not lost, Yatsuhashi."

The man in question raised an eyebrow and glanced skeptically at the industrial wasteland around them.

"I know, I know!" Fox snapped in exasperation. "I don't know why he had to put his club here, either. But it's here, and it's right around the corner."

Sure enough, as the pair turned the next corner there was - a rather nondescript multi-use building. Well, aside from the rather out-of-place sliding glass doors where a storefront would normally be.

The strobing lights and thudding electronic beat spilling out the windows was another giveaway.

"See, told you I knew where it was," Fox said cheerfully, clapping Yatsuhashi on the back. "Now, follow me and look intimidating."

The glass doors slid open in front of them as they entered the club, exposing a very large room dominated by the dance floor in the middle. A suited DJ wearing a large bear mask was at the turntable, fiddling with the controls in time to the changes in the music. This time of day there were only a few patrons sitting at the bar set into the left wall; most of the people present were men in black and red suits with sunglasses that practically screamed 'gangster'.

Fox immediately went for the bar, walking up to a bearded, black-haired man in another suit, talking to a pair of identical twins in frilly dresses, one red, one white. The bearded man seemed to finish up his conversation and glanced in their direction, his face lighting up as he saw them.

"Fox!" he cried out, striding over to them and sweeping up the dark-skinned man in a hug. "Finally decided to drop in, ya bastard?!"

"Yeah, well, saving the world's a full-time job, y'know?" Breaking the hug, Fox took a step back and concentrated. "Huh, did you remodel the place? It feels different, not to mention the acoustics."

"Yup, changed the front, too. Much less gaudy now." His face fell into a frown. "So, while I'd like to think this is a social call, you'd have just visited my apartment for that. What do you need?"

"Perceptive as ever, Hei," Fox chuckled. "I'm actually here for information."

Hei cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh yeah? Who on? Fifty-sixth Graybacks? Steelheads?" He adopted a scowl. "Please don't say Barnaby's men, man. Those bastards are _crazy."_

Fox sighed and shook his head. "Nothing that easy, man. I need it on the Crimson Thorns. And you know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't serious, so cough it up."

If Hei Xiong, alias Junior, had been serious before, now he was downright grim. "Follow me," he said, turning towards the bar. Scanning the stools, he found a spot a good ways away from the few patrons, and also signalled the DJ to turn up the music.

"Okay," he said once he was sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Most of what I know, you already know. These guys are very secretive, and will not hesitate to murder _anyone_ who digs too deeply, so it's hard to get info on them. That said, I do have three pieces of information for you, and one piece of advice."

"First. The Thorns, or rather Roman Torchwick, hired some of my boys for a job, and I haven't heard back from them. And I haven't asked, either. That's a good way to get the Bloody Rose on your ass."

Fox nodded. "I think I know what happened to them. They're in the morgue, Torchwick torched them himself."

Hei nodded, and slumped into his stool with a sigh. "Yeah... kinda figured. Always knew he was a ruthless bastard." At some unspoken signal, the bartender dropped a glass in his outstretched hand, Hei immediately downing the liquor. "Ah well, nothing I can do about it. Anyways, second. I assume you know of the alliance between the Thorns and the White Fang?" He paused, then grimaced. "Of course you do, you were at that fight on the docks last week. Anyway, both groups are moving lots of men and stuff… somewhere. Can't tell you where, sorry. But they're definitely planning something big."

"Third. And don't spread around that I said this, alright?" At the nods from Fox and Yatsuhashi, he pressed on. "If you're going to keep digging into the Thorns, you will need to know this. I've learned the Bloody Rose's fighting style. The basics of it, at least. She's a gunscythe user."

Yatsuhashi's eyes immediately widened in shock. "That's-"

"You know what that means, huh?" Hei mused, swirling the ice in his glass. "Good. Because here's the advice: drop it."

Hei's eyes zeroed in on Fox, the focus completely at odds with the liquor he'd just drunk. "I'm serious. Forget the Thorns and move on with your life. Maybe go challenge a Goliath to a one-on-one match; you'll live longer."

"Why?" Fox pressed, staring right back. "Look, if you found out the Bloody Rose's fighting style, you have to know more. Give me that, and I promise I'll drop this."

"I can't do that," Hei countered. "If I tell you any more, Ruby will-!"

Suddenly, there was a flash as _something_ hit Hei right in the forehead, knocking him ass over teakettle in a spray of blood. Microseconds later, the sound of shattering glass filled the room, sending everyone in the club scrambling for cover.

"Sniper!" Fox hissed. Running over to Hei's side, Fox pressed his fingers against the man's neck, and heaved a sigh of relief to find that he was still alive.

"Fox?" he groaned from where he was lying.

"Hei, don't speak. I think you've just got a concussion. Make sure you stay down, the bastard's still out there and he could take a shot."

"Might as well kill me now..." Junior huffed darkly, slowly bringing a hand to his bleeding forehead. "I'm a dead man walking anyways..."

Fox blinked in confusion. "The hell are you-?"

A trio of additional shots cut him off, causing him to curse and duck under the bar.

"Dammit, we need to go on the counterattack," he muttered to himself before turning his attention back to his friend. "Hei, get your guys to- _HEY!"_ He managed to catch sight of the twins he'd seen earlier dragging Hei into a hidden panel in the floor before it sealed shut behind them. "Damn it... Yatsu! Take point, we're going out the front!"

His partner nodded, and jumped out from under the bar, arms held in front of his body, and began sprinting for the front doors. Fox followed in his wake, hopefully shielded from further shots. The rest of Junior's goons had long since scattered.

They were about two feet away from the glass doors when Fox heard the rumble of an engine, heading _right towards them_.

"Yatsu, right!" he yelled. His partner just managed to jump out of the way before the armored grille of a semi-truck smashed into and through the front of the building, coming to a rest with the cab and half of the trailer inside.

The two tensed, waiting for something to happen. A panel opened up in the roof of the trailer, and a quartet of what appeared to be small flying drones lifted up out of it. Small flying drones with _missiles_ and-

"Are those lasers?" Fox asked weakly.

The underslung weapons lit up with a whine and a slowly mounting light before disgorging beams of coherent light that hit where the pair had been standing before they'd managed to dodge to the sides.

"Yes, yes they- _ohshitlookout!"_ was all Fox was able to get out before being forced to frantically evade a homing missile that smashed into the abandoned DJ table and blew it sky-high.

Fox hit the ground and rolled, cursing his lack of ranged options. Running up to one of the drones, he took a swing at it with his blades. As expected, the drone simply drifted a little higher.

Yatsuhashi didn't seem to be doing any better. Less agile than Fox, he had already taken a few laser hits, and though it only barely affected his Aura levels, the damage would add up.

' _Think, Fox! What are my options? Melee doesn't work, no ranged attacks, and- wait, what's Yatsu doing? Is that a stool?'_

Indeed, the swordsman had picked up one of the barstools and was in the process of hurling it at the nearest drone. It hit, the drone falling out of the sky, smoking and sparking.

"Alright!" Fox cheered. His joy was short-lived as another four drones flew out of the trailer, making their way to the downed drone as the remaining three combat drones pressed the attack. The new drones sprouted some sort of wire… tentacle… things, that grasped the fallen machine and carried it back to the trailer.

"Aw, geez, that's just not fair," Fox muttered to himself. "How many of these things are there?"

The light hum of the engines turned into a droning buzz as nearly a dozen more combat drones lifted out of the trailer, brandishing their weapons.

"I take it back," Fox gulped. " _That's_ not fair." He then twitched slightly as his ears picked up on something before dodging as another window shattered and the floor gained an array of holes. " _And that's fucking worse!_ YATSU!" he hollered. "Cover me, I'm calling for backup!"

Yatsu grunted in agreement as he swung fiercely at the swarm that was trying to surround him, occasionally ducking behind his blade in response to another blast from the sniper.

Fox ducked behind the bar and ripped his Scroll out of his pocket, speed-dialing Nora as fast as he could. "C'mon, c'mon, pick up pick up pick up!"

Thankfully, he heard the connection establish. " _Hello?"_

"Nora, we need backup! Me and Yatsu are pinned down! A sniper's got us pinned and there's drones everywhere and-!"

SHINK!

Fox stared in horror at the metal tentacle that had impaled his Scroll before slowly looking up at the drone hovering above him. "Clever girl..." he muttered.

The drone responded by opening up with its laser. Fox felt the coherent light burn a line along his Aura, but at this range he was fast enough to plant one of his daggers right through the middle of the damn thing. It fell to the ground, sparking.

' _One down'._ He readied himself as three missile-armed drones took aim at him. ' _Waaay too many to go.'_

~o~

"So, what's in the box?" Sun asked as he and Velvet walked down the street.

"This?" Velvet said, holding up the object in question. "It's my weapon. I've been working on it since I got to Beacon."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Sun replied, snapping his fingers. "I mean, you didn't have it at the docks when everyone else brought their weapons." He hummed as a thought occurred to him. "So, wait, it took you over two years to finish it?"

Velvet flushed in embarrassment. Most students at Signal finished their weapons in a matter of months. "It's a little more complex than what students usually use. And, it's, uh..." She looked away, the blush spreading further across her face. "It'snotfinishedyet."

"Really?" Sun said in surprise, glancing at the box again. "Since you were bringing it with you, I assumed it was done."

"It's _mostly_ done," she amended, still blushing. "I still haven't worked out the ranged weapons suite, and it has this stupid noise problem in its pistons I haven't been able to lick." She grimaced. "Trust me, if we get in a fight you'll find out what I mean."

"Heh," Sun smirked as he crossed his arms behind his head. "I'll hold you to that."

The two fell into an easy silence as they continued down the street, Velvet just slightly ahead of Sun. The rabbit faunus occasionally paused to glance at street signs or storefronts, each time nodding to herself and continuing.

As they turned a corner, Sun almost couldn't stop himself from running into Velvet, who had halted dead in her tracks. Hard not to blame her, honestly, what with the wrecked bookstore dead ahead, with a black van parked in front of it and an armored semi-truck further down the street.

Perhaps the most shocking part was the dozen-odd faunus in black and white outfits manhandling a large, well-built man with some impressive mutton chops and claws on each finger. Claws that he was using to try and shred his attackers with some success.

"Tukson!" Velvet cried out, charging straight at the knot of men. Cursing, Sun took off after her, pulling his quarterstaff out from where he kept it strapped to his waist. They barely made it two steps before a grey _blur_ slammed into Tukson, lifting him off his feet and all the way into the van, before hopping up and over the roof of the van and then back onto the street before speeding into the semi, vanishing from sight as the trailer's door slid shut behind it.

Without missing a beat, Velvet pivoted on her heels and redirected her charge towards the van, currently busy trying to load up the White Fang soldiers. However, even as she ran at full speed, she knew one thing.

' _I'm not going to make it in time!'_

Growling, she hit a button on the handle of the box, causing it to start to unfold. Metal scaffolding attached itself to the back of her uniform, bracing snaking around her sides. Smooth armor plates began covering the skeletal metal, even as the scaffolding built upwards, starting to branch out to the sides.

The last White Fang mook dove bodily into the van, the vehicle starting up its engine and beginning to accelerate, but Velvet knew she was close enough. Her weapon was almost done assembling itself, and then she could-

Suddenly, the bookstore exploded in a massive ball of fire and flying glass, the shockwave knocking both faunus off their feet but only rocking the far heavier van.

Despite their Aura absorbing most of the damage, it took a few moments for Velvet and Sun to stagger back to their feet, by which point the van and semi were almost out of sight.

" _Damn it!"_ Velvet spat, slamming her elbow back into her weapon and forcing it to snap back into its box.

"Well, crap. I'm guessing that was Tukson those guys just dragged off?" Sun asked shakily.

"Yeah, it was. Damn it! Those _bastards!"_ Velvet snarled, slamming her heel into the pavement.

"No use just worrying about it! C'mon, they're only in trucks! Let's go get them!" Running up to a nearby lamppost, Sun jumped up, grabbed the crossbar, and flipped on top, jumping onto the roof.

"Uh, are you sure we can keep up with them?" Velvet asked uneasily.

"Please, I race trucks all the time back in Mistral," Sun scoffed with a grin. "And you kept up with me, so hell yes we can keep up with them. Now, are you coming or not?"

In lieu of answering, Velvet ran into a nearby alley and jumped up and onto the wall, pushing off to land on the rooftop. "Let's go."

As they set out in pursuit of the two vehicles, Velvet reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, hastily dialing Coco's number.

' _C'mon, c'mon, pick up, Coco!'_ she chanted in her head as she listened to the ringing. Finally, she heard the click of Coco answering.

" _Velvet? What's u-?"_

"Coco!" she gasped desperately into the receiver. "We need help! We got there, and Tukson was getting dragged out of the store by a bunch of White Fang soldiers and then he was knocked into a van by some sort of blur and then his store exploded and the van is driving off and-"

" _Velvet, breathe! Now, slow down and tell me, calmly and carefully, what's going on."_

Slowly, carefully, Velvet focused on her breathing and running, letting the rhythm soothe her mind. She was calm, ready to respond to Coco. She could-

" _Velvet, are you in imminent danger right now?"_

"Uh, no?" Velvet replied, wondering at the apparent non-sequitur. Her eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "Wait, Coco, don't-"

" _I'll only be a few seconds, just need to check with Ren on something."_ And with that, the line went quiet except for muffled conversation. Only the fact that Coco hadn't technically hung up on her prevented Velvet from swearing hard enough to make a sailor blush.

Finally, after what felt like hours but what was probably only a minute or two, Coco came back on the line. " _Okay, here's the situation as I know it. Fox and Yatsuhashi are pinned, with Nora and Neptune going to help them. Jaune and Pyrrha are still meeting with Weiss Schnee, as far as I know. And you two are in pursuit of your contact, who was kidnapped by the White Fang. I'm assuming you're calling me because you need my and Ren's help to cut them off, right?"_

"Uh, yeah, that's right," Velvet said, a little awed. "How did you-"

" _Velvet, I know you were sick during the classes on chases, but I thought we went over this."_

The rabbit faunus blushed again. "Shut up, that was last year."

" _I smell a study session in the near future!"_

"Coco, could you please focus?" Velvet complained, vaulting over a gap between two buildings.

" _Right, sorry. What street are you guys on?"_

Velvet glanced down at the street, trying to make out the street signs. Luckily, she passed a familiar movie theater as she did so, making the street signs redundant. "Heading down Vale Street. Just passed that movie theater I like to go to."

" _Okay, Vale Street, movie theater… Okay, I'll call up Jaune and Pyrrha, we'll all meet up at Vale and 22nd. There's an old Schnee factory there, nice and deserted. Then we can- SHITFUCKGODDAMMIT!"_

Velvet's eyes widened as she heard the sound of an explosion on the other end. "Coco?! Coco, what's going on?!"

" _Where'd those bastards get all those rockets?!"_ There was another explosion on the other end, accompanied by a surprised yelp. " _Velvet, I need to hang up now, okay? Meet you there!"_

After the click, Velvet simply stared at her Scroll for a moment, as if she wasn't sure what she had just heard was real.

"What the heck is going on!?"

~o~

" _This is Grenadier calling in all units. Scout and I have successfully acquired the primary objective and are now preparing for exfil. Secondary target Scarlatina, Velvet and one bogey are in pursuit. What's your status, guys?"_

" _Heavy, reporting in. Primary targets Arc, Jaune and Nikos, Pyrrha have fallen off my radar. I'm falling back to the rendezvous point and am free to provide support."_

" _T-this is Engineer and Sniper! We need that back-up, ASAP! Targets Alistair, Fox and Daichi, Yatsuhashi are putting up heavy resistance! Plus, they just got backup in the forms of target Valkyrie, Nora and one bogey! They're cutting a path through my drones, Sniper's getting ready to engage in CQC!"_

" _Calm down, Engineer. Heavy, back them up."_

" _Copy that, Grenadier, moving to provide support."_

" _Wings, Bruiser, what's your status?"_

" _This is Wings, giving you the blow-by-blow! Currently in pursuit of tangos Adel, Coco and Ren, Lie, escorts are engaging as we speak. They're making a break towards your position, ace."_

" _I see... All units, this is Grenadier: Fall back to the rendezvous point, we'll engage them together. Do not engage unless strictly necessary, I repeat, remain in your transports until we reach the rendezvous. All units acknowledge."_

" _This is Wings, I read you loud and clear, squad leader!"_

" _This is Heavy, orders confirmed."_

" _Bruiser here, ready to crack some skulls!"_

" _Engineer, orders confirmed."_

" _Scout here, I'm ready."_

" _Sniper acknowledges. Let's make them bleed."_

" _You all know your jobs, men. Get to it. Ooh-rah!"_

" _OOH-RAH!"_

~o~

Velvet's feet thudded on the ceramic tiles of the roof she was running on, the van with Tukson in it still at the same, maddening distance away. The only reason she wasn't screaming in frustration was the knowledge that the rest of her friends would be able to cut it off soon. Hopefully. That, and all the running left her no breath to spare.

When she heard the whine of distant jet engines she was sorely tempted to do so anyway.

"Sun, we've got incoming airpower!" she called out to him.

"Shit!" he swore, scanning the sky. "Where's it coming from?"

Velvet's ears adjusted, trying to position the sound. "Straight in front of us!"

Sun squinted into the distance, his hand up to shade his eyes from the setting sun. "I don't see it! I think it's hiding in the sun! Which is actually kind of ironic when you- shutting up now!" he yelped at the glare she was sending his way.

Any admonishment for the aborted joke died on her lips when she heard a new sound from the direction of the aircraft: rocket motors. Several of them.

"Sun, dodge!" she yelled out, hurling herself off the side of the building and onto one of the cars below, a medium-sized moving van. She saw Sun jump down the other side barely a second before the blurry shapes of four high-velocity rockets slammed into the rooftop where they had been standing and exploded into a ball of fire and shrapnel.

From her new vantage point, she had a front-row seat as a Bullhead - painted black with a red White Fang emblem on its side, and armed to the teeth - came to a hover over the black van, pneumatic grapnel guns pointing their noses out of the side of the passenger bay. The guns fired, their harpoons punching into the roof of the van, and due to the nose - and its nasty-looking autocannon and laden winglets - pointing straight at her, Velvet could only watch helplessly as the Bullhead lifted off, the van with her friend slung under it.

Not for the first time that day, she wished Coco were here, though for a radically different reason than before.

Wiping her eyes, Velvet shoved the wishes and regrets to the side. If she couldn't save Tukson, she could at least take out her frustrations on the ones who had kidnapped him. A hop brought her on top of a nearby lamppost, and a jump back onto the roof, Sun jumping up himself barely a second later. The chase resumed as the cheery commercial district gave way to gloomy industrial property.

~o~

 _"Yo, Ace, this is Wings! Tangoes just managed to nix the last of our escorts! Still, looks like they're keeping a steady course and going straight for the rendezvous, so things are warm fuzzy, over!"_

 _"Want us to get out and wring their necks? I really want to wring their necks!"_

 _"Negative, Bruiser. Maintain distance and keep on them. I want you to reach the rendezvous the same time they do. Still, Wings, if they try to engage, weapons are free. I repeat, weapons free."_

 _"Roger that, Ace!"_

 _"I'm still punching them through the truck if they land!"_

 _"So long as you don't get out, I couldn't give a damn."_

~o~

Today... was not a good day.

Now, granted, for the man known as Engineer, good days were few and far between. But even by his standards today had been especially sucky.

As he frantically worked on the innards of one of his repair drones, he winced as the feed from another one went black, preceded by a flash of pink. It was a distressingly familiar sight.

His dendrites soldering one last wire, Engineer let the repair drone fly away, and turned to the next drone in an increasingly large pile. Luckily, the old factory they were to rendezvous at was barely a mile away, so help was on the way. And, more importantly, his stock of reserve drones.

A reserve needed as another three drone feeds went dark, leaving only ten still operational. The three kids working their way through his drones worked surprisingly well together for what was by all indications a scratch group, either forcing drones up and away from the halberd to die to pink grenades or bringing them down close enough to suffer a very painful fate at the hands of a mass of metal that was moving way too fast for something of its weight.

 _"Engineer, status report,"_ came the voice of Sniper over the comms.

"Uh..." Engineer winced as a half dozen wrecked drones were deposited before him, followed by a full dozen feeds going blank. "Bad. I'm going to say bad. And don't you know this already? You are on the roof after all, you have a front-row seat!"

 _"Little busy at the moment,"_ came the terse answer. Engineer blinked. Sniper usually acted like he didn't have emotions; for him to actually sound frustrated?

"Define busy," Engineer replied as he continued to work on the drones.

 _"Busy as in the brat who's up here with me is really starting to annoy me."_

Uh oh. And that meant- "Are you fighting hand-to-hand?" he asked in surprise. "How'd he get that close to you?"

 _"He saw all my shots coming and he can somehow see me. This tech is- SONNUVA-!- defective!"_ Sniper bit out, a clang of metal on metal resonating both above Engineer and through the connection.

Acting swiftly, Engineer brought up a holographic display, a few quick jerks of his hand serving to display a silhouette of a person that was glowing green. "Negative, you're green across the board. You should still be good."

 _"Then how the hell do you explain me and him going at it like some cheesy kung-fu flick!?"_ Sniper roared, all pretenses of his 'badass emotionless sniper' image discarded.

"Uh..." Engineer flicked through several images on his display before freezing as one came up. "... Sniper, does this kid have dark skin?"

 _"What kind of a fucking difference does that make!?"_

Engineer shook his head with a groan. "Look at his eyes, moron."

 _"His eyes? What about his-! ... Bullshit Aura-semblance BULLSHITTERY!"_

"Tell me about it," Engineer huffed, redoubling his efforts on his drones with one hand and dendrites, and directing his swarm with another. "I'm sending you backup, get him off the roof and concentrate on the rest."

 _"Got it, I- Hang on, I don't think that'll be necessary."_ The feeling of sheer smugness coming off of Sniper was almost palpable, even through the comms.

"Huh?" Engineer paused in confusion. "How come?"

 _"Easy..."_

~o~

"Reinforcements have arrived."

Blocking another strike from the dark-skinned kid with his sword, Sniper kicked his opponent in the chest, sending him staggering away. That wouldn't be enough to get the other fighter off of him, but Engineer's drones arrived, spewing laser-based death. With some actual breathing room, Sniper looked back out over the battlefield - or rather, on the armored semi-truck barreling down the street towards the battlefield. And the little brats had no idea what was coming!

Finally, the orange-haired girl turned around and spotted the oncoming truck, immediately yelling a warning to her teammates. The three on the street turned to face the truck and tensed their legs to dodge. They were not expecting the semi to screech to a halt, sending the trailer skidding around to face broadside down the street before it started up again in reverse. And they were certainly not expecting the trailer door to suddenly be perforated by a barrage of bullets.

Tapping a button on his helmet, Sniper stored the sight of their faces in his memory banks.

And then he noticed that the stream of bullets was starting to trail upwards.

"Sonuva-!"

Sniper barely managed to roll backwards as a hail of incendiary ammunition that chewed up pavement, concrete, and sheet metal alike ripped through the space he'd occupied mere moments ago. While most of the bullets missed or headed towards the intended target, several clipped his limbs, leaving blackened streaks in their wake.

"Heavy, you bastard! You're supposed to shoot the enemy, not me!" he snapped into the comms.

 _"You're not hurt, are you?"_ came the rather bored response.

"Well, no, but-!"

 _"Then I don't see the problem."_

"Listen, you-!"

 _"Shut up, Sniper,"_ both Engineer and Heavy deadpanned over the radio.

Fuming, Sniper glanced around the rooftop, making sure that dark-skinned kid wasn't sneaking up on him. He wasn't, mostly because he wasn't on the rig's roof anymore. Sniper turned his attention to the other kids - and spotted a car sailing towards him.

"Really?" he deadpanned. Spinning his blade, he made sure that his comms were off before running up to the falling car. "SWISH!" he chirped, punctuating his point by slicing the car clean in half. Landing in a three-point stance, sword held out to his side, he stood up slowly, sheathing his weapon with a flourish as the halves of the car fell to either side of him.

"Yeah," he said to himself. "I'm so badass."

 _"No you're not."_

 _"And learn how to work your damn radio. I've explained it to you three times already!"_

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP AND LET ME HAVE THE MOMENT!?"

 _"Comms discipline, people,"_ Grenadier interrupted. _"You're supposed to be professional mercenaries, not teenage girls. Act like it."_

"Yes, ma'am."

 _"Yes, ma'am."_

 _"Yes, ma'am."_

 _"Good. ETA in five, be ready for company. Grenadier out."_

~o~

Engineer sighed as he shut off his comms and went back to work fixing his last few repairable drones. Honestly, why the marksman tried to cultivate the 'badass' image of himself was beyond him. None of the team was fooled by it, and they were the only ones that mattered, really.

Still, with Heavy here, much of the pressure of running interference was off his shoulders and he actually had some time to prepare for the upcoming fight. Engineer cracked an uncharacteristic smirk under his helmet. No trickle-feeding his drones in this time.

Boosting his signal connection to its maximum strength, Engineer connected his systems to the drones stored within the factory. All of them.

Hundreds of red lights lit up the factory floor, and he found himself looking at the rather drab interior through hundreds of different eyes. Thank goodness for his control programs, otherwise this would be frustrating instead of empowering.

The fresh drones remained inside the factory, a few of his repaired ones sent floating out to reconnoiter the situation. Heavy and Sniper were doing a good job keeping their opponents off-balance with constant fire. Another drone spotted Grenadier and Wings' trucks converging on the factory, targets Scarlatina and Wukong following Grenadier and Scout, and targets Adel and Lie still one step ahead of Wings and Bruiser.

And, hello, that's where targets Nikos and Arc were. The two were bounding over the rooftops towards the factory, and would arrive about the same time as everyone else. Perfect.

Engineer felt the semi start to slow, and then turn so the back was properly facing out. They were there, a quick check on his drones in the factory confirmed it. The mercenary got up as the semi slowly rumbled to a halt, Heavy's pulling up alongside.

 _'Showtime.'_

~o~

Coco glanced over her shoulder, growling at the semi still following them. It had been tailing them since the CCT tower, and while the escorting vans and their thrice-damned rockets had been thoroughly perforated, the truck itself had proved both distressingly and annoyingly resilient. Since it wasn't attacking them, the fashionista had reluctantly holstered her gun to save ammo. Ammo she had a feeling she'd need very soon. One last turn and then it was a straight shot to their rendezvous point.

Said rendezvous point, the old Schnee Dust Distillation Factory, was one of the oldest buildings in Vale. It had been a symbol of the SDC's power over its century of existence... until Weiss Schnee had shut it down in favor of bigger and better - i.e. less costly and less faunus-blood-stained - facilities, leaving it to fall into destitution.

Coco hoped that, with any luck, the advanced age meant that the Schnee 'queen' wouldn't mind the... 'renovations' that were about to go down.

Coco and Ren reached the corner just in time to have to jump back from the semi that suddenly barrelled down the street. Said semi was an exact duplicate of the one that had been following them, and was even now turning around the corner as well.

Velvet and Sun landing next to them was just the icing on the cake.

"Coco!" Velvet cried, wrapping up Coco in a tight hug. "Thank goodness you're here! I thought I was going to go crazy!" Surprisingly enough, she received no reaction. Puzzled, Velvet looked up at the curiously blank face of her leader. "Uh, Coco? Is something wrong?"

"What?" Coco glanced down at Velvet, not to mention her curious stare and tilted head. Feeling the blood rush to her face, she hastily started to explain herself. "Oh, uh, I was just wondering who was leading who here."

"Does it matter?" Ren cut in. "It saves us the trouble of trying to track them all down."

"That's a good point," Coco conceded as she gently pried Velvet off of her. "Still, we should be careful. That bad feeling I had still isn't going away."

"What bad feeling?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha walked up to the group.

"I'll explain after all this," Coco said, taking her handbag and shifting it into gun form. "For now, we have asses to kick."

The rest of the group nodded. That was a sentiment they could all get behind. Drawing their weapons, they proceeded around the corner and down the street, though the entrance to the factory was clearly blocked by the two semis, their rear hatches pointed outwards.

As they approached, nothing happened. Not a solitary twitch, not a gun poking out, nothing. Good, but just a tad unnerving.

About twenty feet from the trucks, Coco held her hand up, prompting the others to stop.

"It feels like they're waiting for something," Jaune muttered.

Coco nodded, then noticed Velvet's ears twitching.

"More trucks incoming," Velvet answered at the look her leader gave her. "Fox and the rest, too."

Sure enough, about thirty seconds later two more semis barreled into the intersection from a side street, both skidding to a halt in position next to the other two. Fox, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Nora were hot on their heels, panting and looking rather worse for the wear.

"So, Fox, who are these guys?" Coco asked conversationally.

"I'm not sure. But they've got some serious hardware," Fox said as he caught his breath. "Drones, armored trucks, high-calibre weaponry, and what Nora informs me is some form of freaking _invisibility_. And yes, it's technological. I could barely feel any Aura from them, certainly not enough to fuel that kind of Semblance for that long."

"T-that's good, right?" Jaune asked sheepishly. "This should be a cinch."

Fox sent Jaune a glare made all the more frightening by his sightless eyes. "Mr. Invisible Man matched me in close combat. Does that sound like a 'cinch'?"

"Withdrawn," Jaune hastily responded.

~o~

 _"Alright men, ready?"_

Grenadier waited for a second as six sounds of assent rang out.

 _"Okay then, in that case, I'll just say this: we've been training for the last year for this moment. Time to show the fruits of our efforts. Open all transports and move out!"_

~o~

Without warning, the trailer's doors slammed out and open, one after another, prompting the students to jump back with their weapons at the ready.

For what felt like an eternity, nothing moved, the darkness and shadows of the trailers looming menacingly.

Finally... they emerged in rush of whirring and clanking, rumbling out of the trucks and onto the pavement, one flipping up and onto the roof of the trailer, another soaring up to hover in the air, and a final one fading into sight on the roof of another trailer with a slight shimmer of air.

The first detail that leapt out at the students was the armor they were wearing: it was similar to the armor worn by the Atlas military's soldiers, save that it was larger and heavier, metal and what appeared to be machinery covering every inch of their bodies. Their heads were covered by blocky, angular helmets that betrayed absolutely no emotion whatsoever.

There were seven in all, each absolutely unique in design and each with a digit from one to seven emblazoned somewhere on their armor.

The one that bore the number 1 was a woman, if the slight bulge of her breastplate was anything to go by. She was the only female of the group, but if the way she held herself in front of her team and the way the number was displayed on her breast was anything to go by, then she was almost certainly the leader. Her armor was festooned with an array of discs and rods of varying sizes and designs, and a pair of thick gauntlets were latched around her forearms.

Number 2 was the one who was hovering in the air, held aloft by a pair of boosters strapped to his back. His number was emblazoned on the mechanical wings that jutted out from the shoulders. A visor and air hose were prominent in his helmet, and a pair of what appeared to be metal cases were latched to the underside of his wings. The armor on his forearms was also suspiciously thick.

The one who emerged from the truck that had almost ambushed Jaune and Pyrrha was the largest by far and had the number 3 labelled on his right pauldron. His armor was ludicrously thick, bulking him up to an enormous twelve feet tall, his limbs almost as wide around as oil drums. His helmet was particularly domelike, sitting squat on top of his bulky torso. Perhaps most distressing was the weapon he was carrying: a gargantuan rotary cannon that was held aloft by both his hands and was big enough to make Coco's look like a water pistol.

Where 3 was the largest, 4 was the stockiest. The majority of the machinery that could be seen was a combination of pneumatic and hydraulic systems that threaded throughout his armor, with the number 4 stamped on his breastplate. His limbs were the most reinforced parts of his body, the joints as heavily protected as mobility allowed and his hands and feet little more than blunt lumps of metal. The man appeared to be extremely eager for the fight to begin, if the way he was repeatedly stomping the ground and pounding his fists together was anything to go by.

Number 5 was the only one that hadn't fully exited his trailer. Not even the man's armor could hide how spindly he was, but it certainly made up for it. A quartet of mechanical pseudo-arachnid limbs protruded from a thick metal pack on the man's back, holding him aloft in the trailer's mouth. A number of drones were hovering in the trailer behind him, apparently coordinated by the holographic panel being projected from his belt that he was tapping at both swiftly and precisely. The light from the panel illuminated the number 5 labelled at his collar.

The sixth was the one who had flipped onto the trailer roof. He was one of the least armored, but that was on account of being obviously optimized for speed and agility, rather than raw strength. The person was also the only member who was distinctly inhuman, if the armored tail sticking out of his lower back and his digitigrade legs were anything to go by. Both his hands and feet were adorned with particularly vicious claws that dug into the metal of the trailers. His legs were augmented with powerful-looking servos. The ones on his thighs were labelled with 6s.

The final member of the team was the one who had faded into sight, his armor specialized for an even combination of speed and strength. While his armor was rather nondescript, his weapons were far more striking. In his left hand, the man clutched what appeared to be a three-foot long, technologically-upgraded ninjato with a pitch-black blade. In his right, the man was holding what appeared to be a massive sniper rifle that was as long as the man was tall. Despite the gun's size, the man had it effortlessly slung across his right shoulder. The man's helmet had a large, singular lens in the middle of its 'face', and the number 7 was prominently emblazoned just below.

"Oh fuck me sideways…" Coco breathed, taking a step back, her sunglasses slipping down enough to show eyes wide with shock. "Those... those are exosuits. Those are _fucking exosuits_! This-this is impossible!"

"Coco!" Jaune _barked,_ drawing on his fear to bolster his will. "Explain! What are exosuits and why are they impossible?"

"They're theoretical suits of power armor, smaller than a mech , the idea being that they can allow regular soldiers to compete with huntsmen, without the usual size and cost restrictions of mechs." With a sudden shout of frustration, Coco whipped off her sunglasses and cast them aside in favor of redoubling her grip on her weapon. "Emphasis on fucking theoretical! They're supposed to be blueprints, at best! I read a goddamn _scientific paper_ on them stating they might be possible _ten years from now_! Where the _hell_ did they get their hands on them!?"

"Eh... how bad could they be?" Nora scoffed, although she couldn't hide a slight hint of nervousness in her grin.

~o~

 _"They doubt us,"_ Sniper stated into his radio, shifting his weight ever so slightly. _"Cute."_

 _"For once, I agree with Sniper."_ Grenadier rolled her shoulders slowly as she watched the rookies. _"Bruiser. Demonstrate just who the hell they're dealing with."_

 _"HELL YEAH!"_ the stocky mercenary roared, punching the air victoriously.

Before the students could react, he turned around and ran into the gap between two of the trucks, stopping at the middle of one of the trailers and shoving his hands beneath the vehicle.

The next second, the truck appeared to simply jump a full ten feet in the air before falling... and landing squarely in Bruiser's waiting hands. The strongman didn't even shudder or flinch as he held the massive vehicle over his head, the concrete cracking beneath his feet.

The rookies tensed simultaneously, slowly stepping backwards as they stared at the effortless display of strength in horror.

"I withdraw the question," the orange-haired one squeaked.

"This... is gonna suck," the blond one with the shield gulped audibly.

Grenadier chuckled darkly as she grasped a pair of discs on her thighs and snapped them off, causing them to activate automatically. All around her, her men cocked and locked their weapons in savage anticipation.

 _"Come on, boys,"_ she grinned, a bloodthirsty tone tinging her usual professionalism. _"Let's show them just what the Exo-7 are made of."_

 _"Ooh-rah,"_ her boys growled eagerly.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **AN: Some of you might have noticed the edits made to prior chapters. Don't worry, I'm not going to start rewriting this thing. I just needed to make some tweaks to fix an issue readers on another site noticed. They're not enough to have to reread the chapters in question.**

 **Now on with the chapter!**

With an almighty heave, the truck was pitched into the air, floating with a deceptive mockery of grace that was out of place for a flying mass of metal and death. The students immediately all dove to the side; Aura or not, getting a truck dropped on you _hurt._

The semi slammed into the street with an almighty crash, throwing up a huge cloud of dust that obscured the battlefield.

"Sound off!" Coco called out, coughing.

"Clear!" Pyrrha replied.

"Fine!" Velvet provided.

"Anyone see where Nora went?" Ren asked, concern tinging his voice.

"I think she ducked right with the others..." Sun said as he flipped to his feet.

"M'okay!" Jaune called out as he managed to get himself upright.

" _You won't be for long, brat!"_ a tinny voice bellowed from above.

"MOVE!" Coco roared, prompting the group to scatter. And not a moment too soon.

A burst of machine gun rounds thudded into the pavement where Jaune had been standing not a two seconds prior, the armored form of Wings coming to a hover about a hundred feet off the battlefield. Growling, Coco swung her rotary gun at him.

" _Oh, I'm so scared!"_ the flying exo-wearing menace cooed in a high-pitched, faux-girlish voice. " _No, seriously, that thing would hurt if you managed to hit me with it."_ Though the helmet hid any kind of expression on his face, Coco had a distinct feeling that he was grinning like a loon underneath. "If _you hit me. Which, in case you haven't picked up on it yet, I_ seriously _doubt you can."_

The fashionista had no time to react before she felt claws tear into her back, muted by her Aura. She staggered forward, catching herself in time to pivot on her foot and aim her gun at the spot she had been attacked from...

Only to see nothing, just a plume of dust only just starting to bloom. Once again, she felt claws tear into her back, and once again as she turned around she saw only a plume of dust.

" _Good luck trying to tag Scout here,"_ the flying man stated, smugness dripping from his every word. " _He's way too fast for someone as slow as you. And just to be clear, I mean that in_ every _sense of the word. Oh, and by the-! Gugh, wait one sec..."_ The airborne menace cocked his head to the side. " _Yeah, Ace? ... Yeah, I put speakers on my suit, so what? ... To harass and demotivate them of course, why else?! ... Look, I don't care if it's against regulations or your orders, I'm not gonna keep quiet! ... You're damn right I'm being insubordinate! Now you listen to me you-!"_ And so it went.

Coco would've dearly loved to shoot down the bastard as he babbled into his headset, but this 'Scout' person was not letting her get any kind of shot lined up. Every time she tried, she got slashed, slapped, and kicked around for her troubles. And a glance at the rest of her group, and the vast number of drones swarming them, told her that she wasn't going to get any help soon.

Still, fast as this 'Scout' was, his attacks were eminently predictable. Whether it was due to how fast he was, or something else, all she needed to do was place her gun in just the right place…

There was a loud clang as Scout clotheslined himself on the barrels of her gun. The armored faunus's residual momentum sent him skidding on his ass for a moment before he used his tail to twist himself around into a sliding three-point stance, his claws digging into the ground in order to bleed off his momentum.

It was brief, but it was all the opportunity Coco needed to swing her gun around to target the flying soldier and fire off a quick burst, sending him into a frantic evasion.

And then Scout was on her again, her newfound ability to at least counter some of his strikes balanced by the steady stream of bullets and the occasional micro-missile barrage raining down on her from above.

' _I hope the others are having better luck than we are…'_ she thought to herself as she got her gun in front of another one of Scout's strikes.

~o~

Bruiser grinned under his helmet as he blocked another hammer strike from the orange-haired girl. This was going _great!_ The little grenadier/berserker (he'd seen the way her pupils had dilated for a second) was matching him blow for blow, strength for strength, despite the exhaustion written in her panting breath and quivering arm muscles, and it was _exhilarating!_

" _Incoming ultrasonic,"_ came the voice of Grenadier, and with a twitch of the finger he shut off his suit's audio sensors. Hammer Girl promptly staggered as the sonic grenade went off, and he immediately took advantage of the distraction to punch her square in the torso.

Just because he enjoyed a good fight didn't mean he fought _fair_. That was a good way to get killed in this business.

" _Target Alistair is down. Shifting targets."_

That was the blind kid, wasn't it? He was probably even more susceptible to the ultrasonics than normal people. And sure enough, there he was, lying on the ground and clutching his ears.

There was no time to gawk, though, as Hammer Girl picked herself off her the ground and fired a grenade at him. Bruiser reached up to bat it away like the previous ones, only to have it explode against his armor.

' _Huh. Must've adjusted the fusing. Clever girl.'_

Hammer met fist once again as the orange-haired girl dove onto him. They traded blows like this for a few minutes, before the girl placed her foot down on a loose rock and staggered just long enough for him to drive a full-bore punch in.

The punch hit the hammer, backed by crossed arms, with a clang. Bruiser grinned under his helmet.

' _Gotcha!'_

With a twist of his wrist and a hiss of pneumatics, the piston built into the outside of his suit's elbow jutted out of it's resting place. He savored the girl's suddenly terrified expression for a moment before twisting his wrist back, causing the rod of metal to _slam_ back into place with three times the speed it had exited, the resulting impact launching the girl flying off her feet.

Bruiser didn't give her any time to recover, dashing forward with speed completely out of place on his bulky frame, and slammed her into the ground with another punch.

" _It's been fun, kid,"_ he said, though she couldn't hear it. And then he fired the primed piston again, slamming her into and _through_ the concrete slab underneath.

When he lifted his fist up, she didn't move.

" _Target Valkyrie down. Where do you need me, Boss?"_

" _Swish!"_

Bruiser turned towards Sniper's position in time to see him sheath his sword as two halves of a car fell to either side of him.

" _You're still on the main channel, man."_

" _Screw you guys, that was kickass!"_

" _Cut the chatter. Bruiser, go assist Heavy. Target Daichi is giving the Lieutenant a run for his money in pure aura."_

" _Oooh..."_ Bruiser grinned gleefully as he slammed his armored fists together, eyeing the goliath of a teenager as his buster blade clashed against Heavy's minigun. " _Sound like my kind of-!"_

TUNK!

Bruiser blinked in confusion as he got warnings about _something_ landing on top of him. " _What the-?"_

A glance upwards awarded him with the sight of Hammer Girl standing on him, both her feet planted on his shoulders as she swung her hammer up with a furious snarl.

" _Uh-oh."_

SLAM!

" _GRK!"_ Bruiser wheezed as he was knocked ass over teakettle by the hammerblow slamming into his faceplate. It took him a moment to reorient his thoughts before he managed to reactivate his comms. " _Ugh... Boss? I made a bit of a mistake... Valkyrie is still going. No idea_ how, _though."_

" _I know how,"_ Grenadier growled, the sound of close-range combat ringing out over the connection. Bruiser twisted his helmet slightly and managed to catch sight of the squad's leader going head to head with the blind brat _she'd_ said was down, her escrima batons out and clashing with the brat's arm-blades in a flurry of sparks and movement. " _Alistair played possum. He must rely more on Aura than his ears and managed to tag Valkyrie with an Aura jolt when you weren't looking."_

" _Want me to put one between his eyes?"_ Sniper asked, hefting his rifle and taking aim.

" _Aren't you still busy dealing with_ your _brat?"_ Heavy grunted, shoving Daichi back few feet and letting loose a spray of bullets.

" _He's inconse- OHCRAP!"_ Sniper barely managed to redirect the stab the blue-haired extra made with his halberd before wrenching his sword back out and going toe-to-toe with him. " _Sonnuva-_ THAT LITTLE SHIT ALMOST SCRATCHED MY DAMN ARMOR!"

" _I think Sniper just got motivated,"_ Engineer's nasally voice provided flatly.

"I'M GOING TO CHOP THIS PRETTYBOY PUNK'S FUCKING HEAD IN TWO!" Sniper roared, flailing his blade and rifle in a furious rampage.

" _Yes! That's it!"_ Bruiser bellowed as he shoved himself to his feet, pumping his fists in the air. Noticing a pink blur heading at him, he swung his fist outward, detonating the grenade with relatively negligible harm before rushing Hammer Girl, bearing his full weight down on her in a flurry of blows. " _Let the anger flow through you! Live for the fight! DIE FOR THE FIGHT! HAHAHA!"_

" _I told you to can the-! Oh why do I even bother?"_ Grenadier groaned as she dodged a slash from Alistair and performed a particularly impressive cartwheel back from him. " _I've got Target Alistair. Everyone else concentrate on taking down theirs so that we can regroup. Engineer, how goes it with the others?"_

" _Honestly?"_

~o~

" _Surprisingly well,"_ Engineer noted as he skittered through the factory's rafters, dodging and weaving around the stream of bullets that was peppering only a general area of the roof, as opposed to concentrating on a single area. " _Wings is loud, but he's not compromising anything, and Scout is performing admirably. I'll need to see about integrating some form of reaction-enhancer to his armor, though."_

" _Much appreciated,"_ the basilisk faunus noted as he zipped around the battlefield, raking his claws down Target Adel's back before ducking under a retaliatory swipe from Target Nikos' lance and dashing to the outskirts of the brawl anew.

" _Bah! Entire team is babies!"_ Wings added both on the radio and through his speakers in a faux-Atlesian accent. " _Actually, no, I take that back: babies would be more of a challenge!"_

Wings dodged the retaliatory fire with an exaggerated mid-air flip, loosing a swarm of rockets as he went.

" _Neener neener nee~ner!"_ he laughed as the rocket hit the space Target Adel had been occupying moments before, his hands waving childishly at the sides of his head.

" _Didn't you just say they were less challenging than babies?"_ Scout asked as he ducked and dodged effortlessly around a series of kicks from Target Scarlatina.

" _Childish insults for child targets! My logic is flawless!"_

" _So many things wrong about that statement, so little time..."_ Engineer groaned as he redirected some drones to keep Targets Lie and Wukong suppressed with a twitch of his left pinkie and right middle fingers. However, as he quickly flipped through the camera feeds, he saw something… odd. A swirl of his left ring finger, and the feed was front and center inside his HUD. A flex of his thumbs gave him a quick multi-faceted analysis...

And he did not like what he saw.

~o~

Velvet growled in frustration as her kick hit only empty air. These opponents weren't that strong; they were just _incredibly annoying_ to fight. The only who'd been able to land any hits was Coco, and none of them had slowed down the fast one at all.

Still, he wasn't the problem. Nor was it the wisecracker flying overhead. No, it was those thrice-damned drones. They just… kept floating and crawling just out of reach like a bunch of cockroaches, and the few brought down were quickly replaced. Coco could've gotten some headway, especially in trying to at _least_ take down their obvious controller, but she was getting double-teamed by the flyer and the fast guy, and none of the rest of the team had the sort of ranged attacks necessary. At least, not any with the appropriate amount of firepower behind them.

At this rate, they were going to all be _pecked_ to death. And that would not stand!

"Pyrrha, cover me!" she shouted out. Not waiting for an answer, she hit the button on the handle of her box, the scaffolding quickly folding around her again. This time, though, the transformation finished. Armor plates slid over the metal lattice, most notably the dome-shaped shell on the back. Cables wrapped themselves around long extensions, shaping themselves into long arms. And a small head, packed with sensors and a large void for future additions, unfolded itself from where it was stowed on the back.

The final result greatly resembled a large metal bipedal turtle with no legs, huge fists, and no skin on its head that was hovering mere inches behind her back, metal extensions curving around her sides.

As the drones began to overwhelm Pyrrha, Velvet grinned. It was not a nice grin. "Alright, Cottontail!" she ordered, punching a fist outwards. "Get 'em!"

The massive turtlepack clenched a fist before mimicking her movement at ten times the speed. " **Ora!"** A drone fell to the ground, suddenly a pile of so much sparking compacted scrap metal. Another moved to replace it and was met with the _same_ fist a second later.

The rest of the drones were swift to follow. Some attempted an assault from the rear, but the construct's shell rendered that avenue moot, forcing a frontal assault. All Velvet had to do was punch more. Drones fell into smoking heaps, unable to get past the super-fast pair of fists. " **Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!"**

As the barrage ground to a halt, final drone charged her in a desperate suicide-rush, but met a gruesome fate between the construct's fists as a result. " **ORA!"**

Velvet smirked and planted a foot on top of one of the downed drones, her chest heaving slightly from the combined fatigue of supporting the construct and punching so fast. "Not so tough now, are ya?"

" _Oh, come on!"_

Velvet looked up in surprise at the flying armored form, who was hovering in place and putting a hand to his forehead as if he'd just slapped it. "What?" she snapped, defensively.

" _Cottontail?! Does that look like a goddamn rabbit to you?"_

Velvet glanced at her turtlepack, her brows scrunched in concentration. "Y'know, you're right. It looks more like a turtle."

" _Oh, thank Rem-"_

"I'll call it Cottontail Carapace!"

The armored form twitched, ever so slightly. " _Grrrrrgh…"_

Velvet opened her mouth to respond-

"GOTCHA!"

" _GAH!"_

But was cut-off when a yellow blur landed on Wings' back, causing him to 'stumble' slightly midair.

" _Hey, what the heck do you think you're-!?"_

Sun cackled as he popped his head over Wings' shoulder. "Guess the movies were right! You strong flyer guys _don't_ look out for things above you, do you? Aaaanyways..." Sun's smirk became vicious as he held up one of his pseudo-flintlock pistols. "Left or right, flyboy?"

Even with his armor, the students could all but _see_ the blood drain from Wings' face. " _Nonono,_ don't you-!"

"Too late!" And with that, Sun shoved guns into the flyer's jetpack and loosed a number of rounds, flipping off as the thrusters roared into an unholy overdrive.

" _SONNUVA_ BIIIITCH!" Wings howled as he was sent careening uncontrollably through the factory, ramming against the floor and walls without reprieve. Well, without reprieve until he went careening towards Velvet.

" _FUUUUU-!"_

" **ORA!"**

Wings let out a pained whimper from where his suit was imprinted into the ground before slipping into unconsciousness

"Wow," Pyrrha said, whistling appreciatively. "That's a very impressive weapon, Velvet. Though, if I may ask, why does it-"

"I DON'T KNO-O-O-OOOOW!" Pyrrha jerked back in shock when Velvet suddenly wailed, tugging on her ears as tears of embarrassment cascaded down her cheeks. "I've tried to fix it over and over again, but nothing I do wo-o-oooorks! It just keeps making that _noooise!"_

"Uh, there there?" Jaune said uncertainly, patting Velvet's head as the faunus started crying into his female teammate's chest. "I… sorry about this Velvet, but we are in the middle of a fight right now, so..."

"Right, right," Velvet sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Okay, we can-LOOK OUT!"

" **Ora!"**

The younger students flinched as Velvet, and thus her construct, suddenly lashed out, nailing the ground right in front of Scout and forcing him to grind to a halt. The halt was momentary, but long enough for Ren to come out of nowhere and hit him with a flying side kick. Pressing his foot Scout's shoulder, Ren flipped off, kicking him in the chin. And as he landed, he capped off the impressive combo by turning around and slamming an Aura-enhanced double palm strike that sent Scout into one of the main support beams, denting it and his armor noticeably. The sparks that leapt from the suit's joints were an appropriate deathknell.

In fact, as Jaune, Velvet, and Pyrrha looked around, the fight seemed to have decisively turned in their favor. Coco was hosing down the remaining drones, and Sun was trying to find the controller of the drones in question. Key word 'trying'. The man had shown himself to ludicrously agile in the confined spaces of the roof, and had swiftly lost Sun in the rafters.

"Sun, fall back! We don't have time to take him down!" Coco called out over the buzz of her gun.

Jaune's eyes widened in realization. "The others!"

"Yeah. If the other four are as good as these guys were, they're in trouble," Coco grimaced as she slowly tapered off her barrage, the last of the swarm smashing to the ground. "The last guy is nothing without his drones. I think it's safe to leave him here."

"Well, what are we standing around for, then?" Ren uncharacteristically snarled, his expression thunderous. "Let's _go."_

Coco stared at him for a second before chuckling and shaking her head. "Of course, of course. Just let me do the entrance, okay?" she said as she started walking towards the downed semi that divided the battlefield.

The rest of the team followed swiftly in her footsteps, their faces set in grim determination to save their friends.

For a moment, the ex-battlefield was silent, the defeated soldiers lying prone and the dust slowly starting to settle.

However, this moment of peace was swiftly, if silently, interrupted by the final member of the trio clambering back down to earth, his mechanical limbs making nary a sound.

He surveyed the damage morosely for a moment before shaking his head with what could have been a sigh. A moment later, he jerked his arms outwards. In response, the back of his armor opened up and disgorged a new set of limbs, these ones topped by an array of tools.

As the tools sparked themselves to life, the soldier cracked his neck back and forth, taking a moment to prepare himself...

Before going to work.

~o~

Bruiser ducked under the swing of the massive sword, and punched Yatsuhashi in the face. For a second, he stood there, expression frozen, before falling backwards in a boneless heap.

" _Finally!"_ Sniper groused. " _That took for-freaking-ever! At least that's the last of the little rugrats."_

Indeed, Fox, Nora, and Neptune were lying on the ground, scattered across the battlefield and unconscious.

" _Look alive, people,"_ Grenadier cut in. " _Engineer just told me that the other six are heading our way, so be prepared for round two."_

" _Can I cut off their heads?"_ Sniper asked, landing next to Nora and pulling out his sword. " _Because I do not want any of them getting up in the middle of the fight. Bruiser can tell you all about how much that sucks."_

" _Denied; we don't have the time, and it's likely to get the others more pissed off."_

" _Don't have the time?!"_ Sniper snapped incredulously. " _It'll take ten seconds, how much time do we have!?"_

An electric whine filled the air, and there was the sound of rending metal as the downed semi was torn in two. For a second, everything was still, and then the two halves were shoved off to the side with considerable force. Coco stepped through, flanked by Jaune, Ren, Pyrrha, Velvet, and Sun.

"Hello assorted shitstains," Coco said, sunglasses glinting dangerously. "You hurt our friends. We are going to have _words_."

" _Oh."_ Sniper slowly and carefully edged his sword away from Nora's neck. " _Okay, I gotta admit: that was a badass entra- OH SHIT!"_ Sniper only barely managed to get his sword up in time to block the two gunblades that tried to slice apart his face. It did nothing for the kick that thundered into his side.

~o~

Coco grinned as Ren pounced on the sniper. It wasn't part of the plan, but it did have the advantage of being completely unexpected. The fashionista slowly stepped out from between the two halves of the semi, watching her companions go ahead. Velvet and Sun were making a beeline for the armored woman to the rear, who she was fairly certain was the leader of this merry gang. Pyrrha and Jaune were making for the two big ones, keep them occupied while Velvet and Sun did their work, but she could see that they weren't going to be able to stop both of them in time, the taller, well-armed one breaking for the two faunus.

' _Well, that's fine. They've got_ me _here.'_ And with that thought, she aimed her weapon at the hulking exo-suit, and fired. Not her usual controlled bursts, but full auto. The bullets sparked as they pinged off the armor, and she saw one of the exposed weapons spark and snap. And then Pyrrha engaged him, and she had to check fire.

With no clear targets, Coco scanned over the battlefield. Ren seemed to have his opponent well in hand, and Sun and Velvet were doing a good job herding the leader. And Jaune was fighting the relatively smaller big one, and doing surprisingly well. She winced as a punch crashed into his shield, but the blond somehow stayed standing.

Coco grinned, letting her gun fold back up into its carrying case. Perfect opportunity to… indulge a bit.

The first sign the melee specialist got that he was under attack was when Coco's carrying case smacked him upside the helmet like a compact wrecking ball, staggering him. The brawler recovered quickly, swinging his arm at her in a vicious backhand, only for Coco to place her hand on the arm and swing herself up around the limb for a kick to the head, snapping his head up.

Landing deftly on the shoulder of the armor, Coco brought her bag down on the fighter with all the force she could muster - right as Jaune stabbed Crocea Mors into the armor's right knee joint. The leg immediately buckled, right as the case impacted the helmet with a sound not unlike a large gong, turning a kneeling fall into an outright faceplant, the helmet noticeably dented.

~o~

" _Bruiser, status!"_ Grenadier barked into her comms as she continued to fend off the blond faunus.

" _I'm gonna feel these bruises for months..."_ the fighter in question moaned. " _Awesome as that is, I can't move. Systems are damaged as fuck. Aaand there goes the other knee joint. Smart brats."_

" _Fucking kung fu bullshit, I thought I was done with this when the blind kid went down!"_ Sniper added as he found his every slash and stab blocked by Target Lie's furious onslaught.

Hastily hopping away from the solid _wall_ of punches Target Scarlatina was sending out - _that_ had been a thoroughly unpleasant surprise - Grenadier considered her options, looking for a valid hail-mary.

Which at this point was hope like hell that Engineer was done and less than a minute away.

" _Engineer, ETA?"_ she said, her tone of voice far calmer than she felt.

Her suit's sensor suite suddenly started blaring out missile warnings - missiles with friendly IFF tags.

" _Right now."_

~o~

"INCOMING!" Jaune yelped, throwing himself to the side as the air was suddenly filled with a hail of _far_ too familiar missiles.

"Shit!" Coco spat, clamping a hand down on her beret as an equally far too familiar figure buzzed by overhead, flipping around and bringing his forearms up to point at her and her friends. "Everybody duck and cover! Now!"

The students beat a hasty retreat from the onslaught of missiles and bullets and lasers that the flier and the _thrice-damned drones_ accompanying him unleashed, forced to watch as the rest of their armor-clad opponents regrouped, with the largest of their number hauling their melee-specialist along by one of his legs.

"How the heck did theeeeey _ohfuckme,"_ Sun trailed off as the drone commander dropped from the ceiling to land amidst his allies, power tools whirring and waiting.

"Stop him! Before he - GRK!" Ren's attempt to charge the soldiers was cut off by a blur of metal zipping by him and clawing him in the side. An attack that, worryingly, left a cut on his shirt.

' _Attrition,'_ Jaune realized, cold dread tugging at his chest. ' _We're getting worn down.'_

The group could only watch as the enemy speedster devolved into a blur, running around his comrades in a tight circuit and kicking up huge quantities of dust in the process, effectively obscuring them from both sight and interference.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it," Sun stated with weary resignation.

"Considering they're probably repairing their suits in there?" Coco unfolded her gun and checked her ammunition with a distinctly unsatisfied groan. "Yeah, probably."

After a few tense minutes, the blur vanished, and the dust began to settle. They tensed, waiting for their enemy to show themselves.

It was then that a pair of metal canisters landed in the middle of their formation and began spewing smoke.

~o~

" _Alright, people, you know the drill. Once the dust clears, initiate Castle Crasher and Crab Grab."_

Around her, the rest of her mercenaries - minus Scout - were checking weapons, testing repaired systems so they broke at their base and not now, and bantering with each other, if Sniper's body language was anything to go by.

She smiled. Aggravating, insubordinate, and thoroughly unprofessional they may be, her team was her family. You don't spend over fifteen years working together and not bond. And most importantly, quirks or no quirks, they got the job done. Always.

The smile was swiftly replaced by grim determination as the dust began to settle, Scout blurring to a halt at the front of the formation. A quick flex of her fingers queued up a pair of smoke grenades in her palms. She counted down for a few moments before nodding resolutely and flinging the ordinance at their targets. Grenadier waited once more as she heard the metal clink against the ground before a flex of her palms caused the bombs to erupt in a blast of smoke.

" _Have fun,_ boys," she purred, striding out of the dust cloud and into the smoke as her hands drifted to her side and flicked a pair of escrima sticks out to their full length. A twist of her neck had the combined benefit of both popping her neck and painting everything in infrared.

Grenadier didn't run, didn't rush. She, quite simply, _prowled_ through the smoke, observing her foes' outlines - and how two were pulled away from the group, rushed by her boys.

Leaving the two to their fate, she instead circled around Target Lie, looking him up and down much like she'd inspect a piece of meat. To the target's credit, the swing he lashed out at her showed that he _did_ somehow manage to sense her, but it was for naught as she leaned back from the attack.

Before the martial artist could react, she tossed a metal disc up in front of his face, detonating it in a blast of light and sound. As the kid reeled back, she struck out, one stick slamming into the forehead, curling him over the one she rammed into his lower back and flipping him around in the air.

Grenadier turned and started walking towards the monkey faunus as Target Lie flopped onto the ground, likely unconscious and definitely not likely to do anything for at least a few minutes. The blond's head was practically on a swivel, frantically looking back and forth for her. Probably wasn't used to having his vision obscured, with his natural night vision.

As such, he was completely unprepared when she appeared to his side and slammed a stick into his gut, causing him to double over with a whoosh of breath and giving her the opening to slam the stick upside his chin. She then proceeded to flip her stick in her grip and press the tip to his forehead before pressing the button located on the stick's butt sending the faunus sprawling with a controlled blast.

Turning towards her next target, she was surprised to find both Targets Nikos and Adel stalking towards her.

' _How are they- ah. Target Nikos' Semblance. Impressive that they were able to communicate nonverbally, even through all this.'_ On that note, Grenadier promptly flipped another pair of smoke bombs at the two, detonating them inches from their faces and causing them to reel back coughing as their lungs were filled with the foreign gases.

With the two thoroughly distracted by the burning in their respiratory tracts, Grenadier had the time to precisely place her sticks to their chests and press the buttons. Twin explosions launched the two backwards, Adel sprawling but upright and Nikos flipping into a controlled cartwheel.

An ultrasonic, followed by a sticky explosive were launched downrange. The ex-gladiator's Semblance was entirely too dangerous to leave on the battlefield. The ultrasonic arrived first, not doing much against her Aura defenses, but serving its purpose in obscuring the sticky grenade that landed on her shield. The resulting explosion was quite a bit larger than the ones from Grenadier's sticks; hopefully that would take her out of the fight.

Especially since she could feel the muzzle of a very large gun poking into her back. Slowly, Grenadier raised her arms above her head.

"Give me a reason, bitch," Adel growled from behind her. "Give me one goddamn reason."

" _How about the life of your bosom buddy?"_

Grenadier smirked as she heard Wings' voice from her external sound. Perhaps the speakers _were_ a good idea after all.

In the linked feed for all her suits, she could see Wings carrying Target Scarlatina a good five hundred feet above the ground, machine gun pressed to her forehead, as well as Bruiser literally _sitting_ on Target Arc, with Heavy standing over him with his minigun pointed at his head.

"She's not my bosom buddy!"

" _Ah, I didn't realize it was that serious. Sorry about that. Good catch, though."_

"You- I- Grah!"

" _Wings,"_ Grenadier stated kindly but with a hint of reproach. " _As much fun as it is watching you tease her, could you get her off my back?"_

" _Right, right,"_ the flyer muttered into his internal comms before switching back to external. " _Anyway, back away from the boss lady. Slowly."_

Grenadier felt the pressure on her back recede, and she turned around to take in the scene, aiming one of her grenade launchers at Adel. Aside from Adel and Nikos - how tough was that girl?! - all the students were either unconscious or held at the proverbial gunpoint.

Victory. Still sweet after all these years.

" _Oh fuck me."_

She blinked. Had that been Heavy? What would get him, of all people, swearing like that? Grenadier glanced over her shoulder, and immediately sympathized with the large man.

There, hanging above them, glowing from active Aura, was one of their semis. And it was _on fire._

" _Engineer, tell me that's not who I think it is,"_ she pleaded.

" _Sorry, boss, but that's definitely Glynda Goodwitch and Bartholomew Oobleck coming up the street,"_ Engineer sounding incredibly calm for the situation.

" _Dude, you're way too calm for this situation,"_ Sniper stated, barely suppressed panic leaking through the connection.

" _Well, excuse me, but I'm currently terrified beyond capacity for rational thought because_ my drones aren't moving how I want them to _._ "

Grenadier let out a choked sound of panic as she noticed that yes, not only were her comrade's drones pointing at her and her squad, but they were doing so while glowing a distinct shade of purple.

" _Permission to void bowels?"_ Scout asked meekly.

" _Waaaay ahead of you,"_ Engineer deadpanned.

Bruiser, on the other hand, seemed to be vibrating with eagerness. " _This is gonna be so freaking bada-OW!"_ he yelped as Heavy freed one of his hands to smack him upside the back of his helmet.

" _Dumbass."_

" _Please tell me you've got a plan,"_ Wings whined plaintively.

" _Yeah. It's plan Call-For-Extraction-And-Hope-They-Get-Here-Ten-Minutes-Ago."_

" _... I like this plan."_

" _Agreed."_

" _Aye."_

" _I can't go back to prison, man!"_

" _The last time you were in there, it was to kill a target. We had you out in less than a_ day."

" _Still, it's the principle of the matter."_

" _WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!?"_

" _Sorry boss,"_ six voices chorused in unison.

Grenadier blew out an exasperated snort as she slowly worked her hands inside her gauntlets. " _Dumbasses... This is Grenadier to Command. Situation is FUBAR, I repeat, situation is FUBAR. Requesting immediate exfil on our location, ASAP."_

" _Acknowledged, Grenadier. Exfil ready to deploy on your mark."_

"To all criminals within the premises!" came the voice of Goodwitch from outside the building. "You have two choices: surrender, or face me and my colleague. Though, in light of how you've been treating our students..."

Despite being unable to see the woman, Grenadier had a sinking suspicion Goodwitch was grinning like a shark that had spotted a bare and bloody behind. This feeling was only reinforced as the semi was torn into a multitude of smaller, but no less deadly potential projectiles.

"I do hope you choose the latter."

The flaming projectiles lurched alarmingly in midair. " _Command, we need that exfil yesterday!"_

" _Roger that. Commencing exfil."_

It was at that point that the roof seemed to explode inwards and everything became _madness._

~o~

Glynda gaped for only a second as a _mortar shell_ slammed into the old factory and exploded, the structure beginning to creak alarmingly.

"Bartholomew! Get them out, now! I'll cover you!" Glynda shouted as she began to run for the factory.

"Right! Hopefully some are still conscious to help." And then he was just a blur heading into the factory.

Glynda rushed onto the factory floor in time for Jaune, Velvet, and Coco to rush past, Oobleck following a fraction of a second later with Yatsuhashi slung over his shoulder. Pyrrha was standing in the middle of the main factory floor, her stance and expression one of someone holding up a great weight. As for their opponents, they were nowhere to be seen, presumably hiding behind the cloud of smoke and dust the mortar round had raised.

"I'll take over, you'd better get to safety," Glynda said. Her riding crop swished and flicked, and a massive glyph lit over the ceiling. Nikos collapsed onto the ground, panting, but though the ceiling creaked and settled, it did not fall.

"Good job," Glynda said to the girl as she caught her breath. "I recommend you follow Professor Oobleck out of the premises."

To her relief, the girl nodded and began staggering out. Already, Oobleck had moved half the downed students, and the ones still mobile were out entirely.

Bare seconds later, the factory was empty of everyone except Glynda and the hostiles. Hostiles that were almost certainly long gone. Still, Glynda whipped up a gust of wind to clear the air, confirming that yes, they were gone.

Oh well. The students were safe. That was what mattered. Glynda turned on her heel and marched out of the factory, idly dismissing the glyph and letting the factory collapse in on herself as she went. Outside, Oobleck was checking over the unconscious students, while the ones still standing had all slumped to the ground, clearly exhausted.

"Bartholomew, how are they?" she asked as she walked up to them.

"Alive, and in no danger of changing that anytime soon," he replied, adjusting his glasses. "Beyond that, all I can say is that they all need medical attention, though not urgently."

"Good. Then that means I have time to do this." Turning towards the four still conscious, she gave them her very best 'Stern Teacher Glare' and was gratified to see them all flinch. "There will be time for a more thorough lecture when we get back to Beacon, but rest assured that you are all in very serious trouble for today's fiasco. Do you have _anything_ to say for yourselves?"

"Maaaybe…" Jaune drawled as he undid one of the straps of his armor, reaching down to pull out a sheaf of papers and a thumbdrive.

Glynda's eyes widened, then narrowed again as police sirens started to wail in the distance. "Of course they pick now of all times to show up," she muttered under her breath. "I'll handle this. You will stay will here and not say anything."

The teacher sighed and shook her head despondently as she headed towards the officers. "And it's barely half past three..."

~o~

About a mile away and two thousand feet up and climbing, the Exo-7 were leaning against the walls of the metal beast that had acted as their savior.

" _That... was way too damn close..."_ Scout groaned, flexing his aching muscles.

" _How the hell didn't they notice us getting out?"_ Sniper asked, rolling his shoulder uncomfortably. " _Not that I'm complaining, of course."_

Engineer glanced around the transport for a second before shaking his head slowly. " _I don't know how they did it, but somehow they've managed to build a Bullhead with low radar observability, drastically cut the heat emissions, muffled the engines to near-silence, and given it a chameleon coating."_

" _In English?"_ Heavy looked at him flatly.

Engineer sighed as he thumped his head against the wall. " _It's a stealth Bullhead. Advanced beyond most modern military technology, mind-numbingly expensive..."_

" _And another example of why we are_ never _getting out from under these guys' thumbs without each of us getting a bullet in our brain before we knew what hit us,"_ Bruiser huffed. " _Yeah, even_ I _got that part."_

Silence reigned for a moment as the mercenaries digested that thought before Heavy finally looked at Grenadier. " _Boss?"_

Their leader was contemplatively silent for a moment before looking at Engineer. " _Did you get it?"_

The mechanical expert brought up his displays and rifled through them for a minute before nodding definitively. " _The data is secure. I'm transmitting it now."_

" _Then there's only one thing left to do."_ Grenadier brought her hand up to her helmet and pressed a _very_ carefully concealed button. " _Central Command, this is Exo-7."_

Without even a second of delay, a _very_ familiar voice rang throughout the helmets of the whole squad. " _Report,"_ it ordered frigidly, frost hanging off of every word.

Grenadier shivered in well-ingrained terror for a moment before rallying her nerves. " _Alpha, Beta and Gamma objectives have been met. We..."_ she swallowed heavily before pressing on. " _We were unable to complete Delta objective, but we suspect outside interference. Overall... mission accomplished."_

The silence froze the Exo-7, holding them in place, until finally...

" _Well done."_

~o~

"Well, this was almost a disaster," Weiss grumbled.

Yang paused in watching the burning inferno before them, a mere shell of what had once been a very nice cafe. "Which part? The fact that if we hadn't sent the Exo-7 on this test run those rugrats would've achieved all their objectives? Or…" She leaned in close to Weiss, grinning ear to ear. "Maybe the fact that the older sister you specifically said was no threat is active and sniffing about?"

"Hmph," Weiss sniffed, holding her nose up and pointedly _not_ looking at the blonde. "I don't want to hear that from the person whose _uncle_ is being even more of a nuisance. We've lost twenty operatives from his actions in the past week alone."

Yang hesitated for a bare moment before smirking cockily."Yeah, whatever. That's Ruby's problem," she said dismissively, albeit just a _bit_ too quickly. "I mean, you and I aren't exactly in a position to pursue one of the most famous hunters alive."

"Point," Weiss conceded as she went back to the tablet she had been scrolling through. "At least we got one good thing out of this. The Mark I exosuits worked exactly as advertised. Those students would have been defeated if Goodwitch hadn't shown up."

"Pff, students. Call me when they can beat graduates," Yang scoffed.

"Let me remind you," Weiss snapped testily. "That not only were the Exo-7 outnumbered, those students are all in the upper percentiles in skill and power. We're talking _us_ at that age. For prototypes, I'd call their performance today a resounding success."

Yang opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted when two figures strode out of the wreckage, somehow untouched by the roaring flames. One was dark-haired and wearing a black, sleeveless skintight suit made of an unidentifiable material, with long gloves and a domino mask. The other, shorter one had brown and pink hair with a white strip hanging over her forehead, an umbrella twirling in her hands.

"Great, you guys are done!" Yang exclaimed excitedly with a clap of her hands. "So, what'd you get?"

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes in a long-suffering manner. "Like being with me is some great burden. But yes, we are quite interested in what you found."

The two glanced at each other before Cinder spoke up. "I'm afraid that there wasn't much to find. Which is good... and bad. Good, in that she can't have very much information. Bad, in that we're not sure what she does have."

Weiss heaved a tired sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Damn it..."

"There is, however," Cinder hastily cut in. "A bright side. I believe we can safely assume it's just a grudge against you, Miss Schnee, and not an operation against our larger objectives."

Weiss and Yang shared a puzzled glance. "Wait, how do you know that?" the CEO asked.

Wordlessly, Neo pulled out a small, only slightly scorched photograph of Weiss, clearly dating back to her Beacon days. Scrawled sloppily on it in red marker were small devil horns, a mustache, and the words "Weiss sucks!" and "Gonna get her!" on the margins.

"Well, that's a pretty good answer…" Yang mused.

Weiss was decidedly less impressed. "That's hardly definitive proof."

Neo responded by flicking her hand and producing well over a dozen more photos of the same nature.

 _That_ caught the heiress off guard. "Uh...?"

"This is only a _taste_ of what was in there." Cinder drawled. "There was an entire shrine set up in there, dedicated solely to lambasting you. The employees told me that your sister attended to it with a religious fervor before they... expired."

"Wow," Yang breathed, clearly both awed and disturbed at the same time. "That is astoundingly petty, even by my standards. But... impressive, in its own way."

"Nice to see that my sister has not matured _at all_ since I last saw her," Weiss sighed, burying her face in her hand.

"Wait, you're not surprised by this?" Yang said incredulously.

"I'll go into more detail at the next meeting. Suffice to say, _no_ , I'm not," Weiss ground out.

Yang shuddered dramatically. "Okay, _so_ glad I'm not that bad."

"Oh, I don't know..." Weiss mused as she turned and started to walk down the street, away from the sirens that had started to wail and ring out. "I can see quite a few similarities in the two of you."

"Oh, come on!" Yang sputtered as she ran to catch up to Weiss. "I know you two don't like my puns - philistines - and I know Ruby doesn't like my occasional smothering, and I keep forgetting not to eat her cookies and okay yeah I can see your point." She sagged forwards with a defeated sigh.

"I'm teasing," Weiss assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're a good sister, don't ever doubt that."

"Even if I left her alone with Qrow for five years?" the blonde muttered.

"Ruby has forgiven and forgotten. I think it's high time you did so, too."

Yang sighed again, before letting out a mirthless chuckle. "It's not easy. I'm sure you know." Before Weiss could respond, Yang stood upright again, her trademark cocky grin on her face. "So! What are we gonna do about those students? I mean, at this point they're clearly on to _something_."

"Once is happenstance, I know, I know..." The heiress shook her head with a sigh. "It's being dealt with. Blake messaged me earlier today," Weiss replied as they reached her car, she and Yang climbing into the passenger seat while Cinder got behind the wheel and Neo went... somewhere. "She says she has a plan that will, and I quote, 'either get them on our side or scare them away forever.' She also said it'll get you an opening to get into Beacon, so be ready to answer the moment opportunity knocks."

Yang's eyes narrowed as she buckled her seatbelt. "I… kinda don't like the sound of that. It sounds like something that could get out of hand very quickly." Yang held up a hand to forestall the inevitable retort. "I know, I know, glass houses and stones and all that, but we know Blake can occasionally go overboard for the cause."

"We can only hope Ruby can keep her in check," Weiss answered, looking as if she'd bitten into a raw lemon.

Yang quirked an eyebrow at that. "Have you _met_ my sister? Even odds Blake will either bribe her or get her to join in."

"A forlorn hope, I know," Weiss conceded. She heaved a weary sigh. "I suppose we must simply wait out the inevitable storm and hope it isn't the cause of too many headaches."

"Guh." Yang snorted, leaning her cheek against her fist as she glared out the window. "Waiting. I hate waiting. Tell you what, why don't we take the night off, get some ice cream, and watch a cheesy romcom in our pajamas? Try and get our minds off this."

"Why, Yang Xiao Long, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were asking me on a date," Weiss said, her imperiously skeptical tone at odds with the smile on her face.

"So, is that a no, or-"

"That is a yes, Yang. Some downtime will do us both good."

At that moment, the car's engine rumbled to life. The vehicle slid smoothly down the street, taking two of the most influential people on the continent with it.

~o~

"What do you mean he won't be able to see us until tomorrow?!" Velvet screeched.

After squaring things up with the VPD, Goodwitch and Oobleck had shepherded the students onto a Bullhead and returned them back to Beacon, sending the majority of them off to seek medical treatment with a stern reprimand. Velvet and Coco had stayed behind to speak with Goodwitch and fill her in on the situation, requesting a meeting with Professor Ozpin in the process. Unfortunately...

"Headmaster Ozpin is a busy man who can't drop everything just because a student says so," Glynda admonished the rabbit faunus, adjusting her glasses to emphasize the point. "Besides, Ozpin would much prefer you were all rested before seeing him. As it is, you all look dead on your feet."

"'M not dead on my feet," Velvet mumbled rebelliously, though the fact she was swaying in place made her protest ring hollow.

"Velvet, sweetie," Coco cut in with surprising gentleness as she grabbed Velvet by the shoulder. "I know you're impatient, but I don't wanna stay on my feet any longer than I have to. Besides, it's not like that intel's gonna get up and walk away."

Velvet took a moment to think it over. "Fine," she finally mumbled, yawning. "So, do we head back to our dorms, or…?"

"You are both going to get yourselves looked at in the infirmary first," Glynda corrected. "But yes, once that's done you may go back to your dorms."

"Cool…" Velvet muttered, before she started slowly and unsteadily walking down the hallway.

Only for Coco to grab both her shoulders and turn her around. "No no, this way, Velvet," Coco said as she led Velvet down the hall.

As the two turned down a corner and out of sight, Goodwitch let a smile creep onto her face. Honestly, those two were so adorable together. Schooling her features, she turned and started heading back to Ozpin's office. Work wouldn't wait just because some students go into trouble.

~o~

Though Fox and Yatsuhashi were ordered to stay in the infirmary overnight, just in case, Velvet and Coco had been quickly released. The two had taken the opportunity to head back to their dorm room and pass out on their beds, not even bothering to change into their nightclothes.

Thus, Velvet had been asleep for some time when her sensitive ears picked up rustling cloth.

 _'Coco… why you gotta go to the bathroom in the middle of the night…'_ she grumbled to herself. To her relief, the rustling stopped, only to be replaced by a soft *thump* and a sudden pressure around her legs.

 _'I swear to Remnant, Coco, if you're watching me sleep again-!'_ Velvet didn't get to finish that sentence as she opened her eyes to the sight of a pair of very familiar golden orbs in the center of a feline mask. She opened her mouth to scream-

"Scream, and I'll open your partner's throat."

And hastily closed it with a click.

"Good." Blake leaned back so that her face was a foot away rather than two inches. "It's been awhile, Velvet. I've actually missed you a bit, you know."

Velvet ground her teeth together as she glared at her old idol. "I've missed you too, Blake," she spat venomously. "How about you get off me and let me get my weapon. We can have a surprise sparring session. It'll be like the _good old days_."

"Tempting..." Blake hummed, tapping the chin of her mask slightly as she slid off of Velvet's bed. "But I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I'm here on business, you see."

"What, no time to spare on account of all the innocent people you have to torture?!" Velvet demanded as loudly as she dared, glancing furtively at Coco's snoring form all the while.

Blake waved her hand with a snort. "You know as well as I do that none of the people me or mine deal with are 'innocent', Velvet."

"They're not guilty enough to deserve what you do to them," Velvet countered.

"I suppose that's where our opinions differ. But..." She received a shrug as a response. "No, that's not my goal right this moment. No, my goal right now… is you."

Velvet blinked in confusion for a second before tensing indignantly. "You... you can't be serious."

"Come on, Velvet..." Blake crooned, gliding to the rabbit's side and ghosting a hand down her arm. "Think about it... you know how evil humans can be... you know how we're persecuted. Your skills are decent, but we can make you better. We can give you a cause. Come, and it'll be like old times... just you and me..." She leaned in close, whispering in Velvet's ear. " _Against the world._.."

Velvet shuddered heavily at the words. The worst part was... for a moment, for a sole, single, shining moment... she wanted to say yes. She wanted to say yes so bad that it hurt. But in the end...

Velvet snarled as she shoved Blake back. "I already have a cause," she spat caustically. "Putting you and every last monster who follows you behind bars, where you'll never hurt anyone ever again. You can take your offer and spin it to someone who cares. I will never follow you so long as I live."

Blake stared at her for a second before shaking her head with a sigh. "Disappointing..." she murmured. "Not unexpected, but disappointing. Well, I'll let you go back to your…" She glanced at Coco's sleeping form. "Idyllic school life. I just want you to think about how easily I got in here."

The cat faunus' form suddenly began to dissolve into smoke, her voice echoing from every corner of the room.

 _"About how this could have been so much_ worse."

By the time the last word had faded away, there was no trace that Blake had been there. Even the carpet was undisturbed. Velvet shuddered, and flopped back onto her pillow, trying desperately to not think about Blake's words.

Despite the effort, Blake's parting words swirled through her mind, repeating and looping like a broken record. When Velvet finally did get back to sleep, it was fitful and not terribly resting. Still, it was rest.

~o~

That fitful rest that was shattered a few hours later by the door slamming open and Velvet getting dragged out of bed by a familiar, desperate person.

"Coco?" Velvet murmured sleepily. "Where's the fire?"

"No time for jokes," Coco panted, dragging Velvet out of their room and down the hall. "You need to see this."

The serious tone of Coco's voice rapidly dispelled any lingering drowsiness, and Velvet started moving in order to keep up with her partner. "I need to see what?" she asked, more than a little annoyed. "Coco, seriously, what's going on?"

"It'll be easier to show you," Coco grimly answered. Velvet grumbled briefly, but shut up as her ears picked up the mass of panicked people ahead of them.

"Coco? W-what's going on? What's happened?"

Coco didn't answer in favor of turning the last corner and then pointing at the far wall. "That. That happened."

Velvet looked... and promptly had to fight to keep from retching up stomach acid.

There, pinned to the wall by metal spikes through his hands and feet, was Cardin Winchester. His blood liberally decorated the wall, the floor, some of it even going so far as to paint the ceiling. Any lingering doubt as to the identity of the perpetrator was dispelled by what the morbid tableau depicted: a massive snarling White Fang symbol that covered everything, the clawmarks going so far as to pass over Cardin himself. Thankfully, paramedics were in the process of pulling him down, but it was still an excruciatingly brutal sight.

Turning her ears towards the far wall, Velvet strained to pick up some of what the paramedics were saying.

"...amn this kid's lucky."

"Are you ...ing me?!"

"Yeah, whoever … was incredibly precise … probably not going to be crippled for life."

"Whatever … prefer not to be crucified…"

"Oh, no doubt…"

"Still... your point. It could have been worse."

" _Way_ worse."

Velvet's knees nearly gave in at that, her body going limp with horror. Somehow, instinctively, she knew exactly who the message was directed at: her. Blake's words from the night before rushed to the front of her mind.

 _"I just want you to think about how easily I got in here. About how this could have been so much_ worse _."_

"Velvet?" Coco shook her partner in concern. "Hey, what's wrong? I know it's bad, but-!"

"Belladonna..."

Coco tensed at the words that slipped out of her partner's mouth. "Wha-?"

"It was Belladonna..." Velvet whispered in a dead tone of voice. "She... she came to me last night... she said... she told me it could have been so much _worse_..."

Coco paled as she processed the implications. "Velvet... shit, I'm so sorry... Look, Velvet, none of this is your-!"

 _"You think I don't know that!?"_ Velvet snapped furiously, swinging her head around to glare furiously at her leader, an unholy rage blazing in her eyes.

Coco reeled back in shock. "Velvet-!"

"That bitch snuck into my room while his blood was still wet!" Velvet snarled, her hands seemingly clenching around something only she could see. "She used him to intimidate me! She wanted this to fucking break me! She wanted me to feel guilty! Like it was my fault! But it's hers, it's all hers! I swear... I swear to god, I'm going to kill her! I'm going to kill each and every last one of those bigoted bastards _if it's the last thing I do_!"

"Velvet!" Coco snapped, grabbing her partner's shoulders and forcing her to face her.

"What, Coco!?" Velvet demanded, snarling in her leader's face. "Are you going to tell me to drop it!? T-t-to turn the other cheek!? Because you can fucking _forget_ -"

Velvet's rant died in her throat as Coco swept her up into a tight hug.

"Of course not, Velvet," Coco whispered into her ear, glaring over her shoulder. "I'd never even dream of it. No... I wanted to correct you. You won't kill them, we will. _We'll_ tear them apart, _we'll_ burn them all to the ground. And it _will_ be a 'we', because no matter what happens, even if something happens to Yatsu or Fox or _anyone_ else, I will always be by your side until the very end and I never want you to forget, or even doubt it for a second."

"Ah... I-I..." Velvet stammered in shock.

"And furthermore..." Coco drew back, her hands still firmly planted on Velvet's shoulders as she looked the faunus dead in the eye. "I guarantee you that this will not be the last thing that you do, because so long as I'm at your side, I will _not_ let you die. Understand?"

Velvet's mouth opened and closed uselessly for a few seconds before she finally clenched it shut and nodded firmly, fighting desperately to keep her tears from streaming down her face.

"Good. Now come on, we need to find the boys and Team JNPR." Coco grabbed her wrist and started dragging her away from the scene. "It's high time we had a talk with Ozpin."

~o~

"Hmm."

Jaune fought the urge to fidget as Ozpin flipped through the dossier they'd handed him. Bad enough that Glynda and Oobleck were also there, but the General Ironwood of Atlas was also watching via teleconference. That had been unexpected. And frightening.

"Well," Ozpin said as finished going through the document. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that this information will be tremendously useful in ongoing investigations against the White Fang."

"Indeed," Ironwood agreed. "I have already contacted the council to obtain warrants for those on this list we hadn't known about. I expect I shall have them by the end of the day, and we can hopefully catch them off guard."

"As for the rest," Ozpin continued. "We shall send it to be analyzed by the Vale Police Department at the soonest possible convenience. I believe they're holding one or two individuals in custody without realizing just how important or dangerous they really are."

"That's it." Velvet stated flatly in disbelief, ignoring the warning look Coco shot her way. "A couple of crooks convicted that had already been captured, and maybe a few arrests. That's all that information fucking gets."

"That is all we can do without stepping well beyond the bounds of the law, Miss Scarlatina," Ozpin replied, his tone gentle but admonishing. "To go beyond the law just to catch them would make us no better, I'm afraid."

"What, you don't have any ongoing investigations this might help?" Velvet pressed, her voice rising slightly with a tinge of desperation.

"Had we gotten this information one week ago, then I would have said yes. Unfortunately-"

"Ozpin!" Ironwood cut in. "That is classified information!"

"Classified on a need to know basis," Ozpin sharply reminded him. "And these students are in deep enough that I believe they do need to know." Turning back to the students, he let himself frown a little. "All of our investigations on White Fang activities have gone cold for the simple fact that there have been no White Fang activities to investigate. Wherever they are, whatever they are doing, they are completely off the grid."

The students said nothing, merely gaping, wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Yes, I had a similar, if less operatic, reaction," Ozpin chuckled. "In any case, you've done a good job. One of the first 'good jobs' we've had on the matter in quite some time, I might say. As such, I hereby give you my official permission: do not hesitate to follow any other leads you might have in the future. In the meantime, though, I believe Professor Port's class starts in… ten minutes?"

The students' eyes widened even further, and they all immediately scrambled for the elevator. Ozpin waited for a few minutes after they entered before turning back to Ironwood.

"And now on to more pressing matters," he stated solemnly.

"Indeed!" Doctor Oobleck nodded firmly, zipping up to stand alongside his employer. "I only had a moment to glimpse the fellows who assaulted our students, just a single one, but it was more than enough to analyze their capabilities: a demolitions expert; a close-quarters combat, or CQC, specialist; a heavy-weapons user; a pilot; a technological specialist; a high-velocity combatant; and an LDS, or 'Long Distance Shooter', or simply 'sniper' for short. Seven experienced combatants, mercenaries no doubt, each highly skilled in their own fields. I am afraid that in light of this information, the conclusion that can be drawn is grim indeed, pardon the pun, one we've dreaded for a long, long, long time."

Oobleck cut himself off as he took a deep sip from his thermos before staring darkly into his drink.

"I'm afraid that the Ever After have returned."

Ozpin instantly tensed, and Ironwood spat out a short curse. Glynda merely looked confused. "I'm… afraid I'm not familiar with that name."

"Not surprising, given that they were rather before your time," Oobleck replied with a sigh. "I myself was but a mere rookie at the time, much like our students. I believe they left the mercenary scene... what, ten years ago?"

"Ten years, three months, twelve days," Ironwood ground out furiously. "If you give me a moment, I can find the exact time we thought we finally killed those bastards too."

"So the Ever After are... an old band of mercenaries you thought were dead?" Glynda asked.

"You make two errors in your assumption..." Ozpin informed her in his usual stoic calm. "First, the majority of the original Ever After _were_ killed ten years ago when they were cornered by a team of Huntsmen during a job explicitly intended to put them in that situation. Second, they were not _merely_ a band of mercenaries. The best way to describe them would be _the_ band of mercenaries."

"I'd call them assassins, myself," Ironwood countered with barely concealed disdain. "If you wanted someone dead, and you had the money to pay them, you went to Ever After. Criminals, politicians, hell, even philanthropists; didn't matter who you were, they'd work for anyone. It didn't matter if the target offered more, they completed every job to the best of their ability. And the target didn't matter, because they could guarantee the death of almost anyone in Remnant."

"Almost?" Glynda echoed.

"They could not guarantee kills against Huntsmen and Huntresses," Ozpin answered, taking a sip of coffee. "After all, from what we've been able to gather, they were not Aura users themselves. Or, at the least, their Auras and Semblances were quite weak indeed. They completed their jobs with skill, experience, and very careful planning, not soul power. Pit them against a trained Huntsman, and they'd retreat unless they felt they had a definitive advantage."

"Which is precisely how we finally managed to _end_ them." Ironwood punctuated his point by slamming his fist on his desk. "We lured them into an ambush and attacked them with the best Huntsman teams we could find. When the dust settled, five were dead and two were unconfirmed but missing several limbs and almost a quarter of their blood apiece. We thought that was the end of it..." Ironwood blew out an exasperated breath as he massaged his throbbing temples. "And now they're back, and better than ever."

"Surely they can't be _that_ much better..." Glynda frowned. "They'd only just managed to put our students on the ropes by the time Oobleck and I managed to intervene."

"Compared to their strength a decade ago, the fact that they managed to overwhelm a superior number of Huntsmen and Huntresses at any level of strength is an astronomical improvement." Oobleck informed her darkly.

Glynda frowned at the information, but decided instead to move on. "Very well then... answer me this: if they're still alive, what have they been doing these past ten years?"

"I suspect," Ironwood stated, slowly. "And Ozpin agrees with me, is that they were in hiding for some time, most likely training the replacements you saw, and were then hired long-term by somebody, somebody who no doubt helped them rebuild themselves. And considering the prices they charged, the list of people or organizations who could afford to keep them long-term is frightfully short."

"Add in the exo-suits they were wearing, and that list would be much shorter, I take it?" Oobleck ventured.

"Try 'non-existent'," Ironwood ground out. "Because whoever supplied them not only has access to military R&D, but they also developed them right under my nose. Until today, I didn't think people with those kind of resources existed."

"Oh, I believe they've always existed Ironwood..." Ozpin mused as he swirled his cup. "You just haven't ever considered them to be an option."

"Not this again, Ozpin..." Ironwood started wearily.

"You weren't here for this part, Ironwood, but Mr. Arc informed me of just whom provided he and his teammate with the dossier I just shared with you. Would you care to guess this individual's identity?"

Ironwood shrugged indifferently. "Most likely some disgruntled and disillusioned White Fang officer, why?"

Ozpin shot a frigid look up at his old friend. "Try Weiss Schnee herself."

 _"What!?"_ Ironwood jerked upright in his seat in shock. "But-! This kind of information would require running covert intelligence operations for _years_ or-!"

"Or perhaps... she had an insider's perspective."

Ironwood fumbled his words for a second before rallying. "Ozpin, I've said it before and I'll say it again: what you're proposing is insane. The White Fang have been enemies of the SDC _since their conception_. They wouldn't work with them if they were the last people on Remnant, and vice-versa."

Ozpin shrugged dismissively. "Very well then. Lets at least examine this from another angle. You claim that developing those exo-suits the Ever After were wearing would require a vast amount of resources, yes?"

"Considering how we're years away from so much as a prototype, I'd say that 'vast' doesn't even come close to touching it..."

"And remind me, _which_ company is coming close to taking the Atlesian Military's spot on the Fortune 10?"

"The Schnee Dust Company, I am aware," Ironwood ground out. "Need I remind you that any of the other companies on that list would be capable of pulling this off? And even the Atlesian Military would be capable of keeping a development like this a secret from the rest of the world."

"Unless of course the SDC were playing their hand close to their chest and you weren't aware of it..." Ozpin posited as he took a sip from his cup.

"Now listen here, Ozpin-!"

 _"Oh my would you look at this so sorry to interrupt but it would appear the Council of Vale is calling!"_ Glynda interjected hastily.

"Smooth," Oobleck hummed into his thermos.

"Shut up before I throw you out a window," Glynda hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"I see," Ozpin said evenly. "I suppose we shall have to resume this conversation at a later date, _General_."

 _"Actually..."_

Everyone in the room, Ironwood included, snapped to attention at the authoritative voice that came out of the room's speakers.

 _"We would prefer it if the good general stayed for this conversation. After all, it concerns him as well,"_ the Councilor continued. _"Professor Goodwitch, Doctor Oobleck, if you would please step outside?"_

The two professors glanced at each other before nodding and stepping out into the lobby. As the door closed behind them, the Council turned their attention back to Ozpin and Ironwood.

 _"What in the name of Remnant was that?!"_ the first Councilor spat. _"A running battle through the city, the destruction of a Schnee factory, and not only do you not stop it before it can get anywhere, you don't even capture the perpetrators?!"_

"The perpetrators were the Ever After, Councilor," Ozpin pointed out, even as he hid a wince as he realized the implications of his words a second too late. "You know how good they are at evading capture and achieving their goals."

 _"Ever After?!"_ one of the other Councilors screeched. _"Ironwood, you promised, no, guaranteed they were all dead!"_

 _"I find it far more likely that they were simply misidentified. It would fit with the Atlesian Military's performance as of late,"_ sniffed the third.

Ironwood took a moment to shoot a glare at Ozpin before addressing the Councilors. "Honorable Councilmen, I assure you, we confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the five Ever After we managed to terminate _were_ members of the team. As for the two who escaped, we assumed their injuries were grave enough that their deaths would be a foregone conclusion."

 _"Obviously, your assumptions were wrong,"_ the first Councillor growled furiously.

 _"In any case, it matters not to whom the blame is apportioned, merely that there is blame to apportion, period,"_ the second Councilor declared gravely. _"That Ever After still exists is a serious mark against you, General Ironwood, while last night's… incident reflects poorly on your handle on the security of your Academy, Headmaster Ozpin."_ He sighed heavily. _"Do you know how many calls I've taken from the SDC about that factory? They don't like people destroying their property, abandoned or no."_

" _As such_ ," the third Councilor nodded firmly. _"In light of recent events, we shall be supplementing the existing security for the Festival by use of a third party. And not the one we'd originally been planning on employing."_ This last bit was said with a firm glare at Ironwood.

Ozpin felt a chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the altitude of his office. "You don't mean-"

There was a tremendous bang as the doors to his office were flung open hard enough to crack the walls on either side. In strode Yang Xiao Long, her long blonde hair flowing behind her and a grin on her face that could only be described as "shit-eating".

"Hey, Ozzie, guess what!" she declared as she strode into the room, looking for all the world like some kind of conquering emperor. "I guess I do have business on campus!" Pulling out a sheaf of papers, she slowly flipped through them. "Very _official_ business, too. Here, take a look!"

She slapped a _very_ official-looking piece of paper on Ozpin's desk with a blood-thirsty grin.

"Federal _fucking_ contract." Her grin stretched from ear to ear. _"Eat it_ , old man."

Ozpin barely refrained from grinding his teeth as he glanced at the images of the Council. "Councillors, with all due respect, if I might-"

 _"You may not."_

 _"Our decision is final. General Xiao Long, we'll leave you two to get acquainted. We imagine you have a lot of catching up to do."_

"With _pleasure,_ " Yang grinned eagerly.

Ozpin couldn't help but equate the pings of the Councillors leaving to the sound of a death knell.

"Well, now that I'm here, I think I'm going to be making some changes," Yang mused. Her eyes fell on the White Fang dossier, still on Ozpin's desk. "For starters, I'll be taking that."

"On what grounds, exactly?" Ozpin asked, his tone colder than most glaciers.

"Oh, you know, nothing complicated, just evidence for an ongoing Council investigation," Yang said matter-of-factly tucked the document into her jacket, grinning at Ozpin's confused expression. "You didn't know? They have me handling that, too. It's all in the contract."

Ozpin dubiously eyed the 58-page document.

"Yeah, I know, but they insisted on all sorts of things," Yang said in answer to the unspoken question. "Anyway, changes. For starters, we're going to need to make this office more secure. I'm thinking we board up the windows a bit, and put in a ceiling. Don't want those big gears to fall on you, y'know?"

Ozpin's eye twitched _ever_ so slightly.

"Also, you're going to be providing the food and housing for my soldiers," Yang continued. "All in the contract. Don't worry, I'm only bringing a few hundred."

Ozpin's other eye twitched just a _wee_ bit more.

"Oh, and we're going to be enforcing a no-fly zone around the school so we don't have repeat of last night's incident," Yang added.

"And how, pray tell, are we supposed to bring in supplies, and let students visit Vale?" Ozpin asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Eh, talk to my Air guy. He'll be managing the flight patterns," Yang said airily. "Now, was there anything else? Oh, right!"

Turning around, she leaned into Ozpin's face, her grin replaced by a furious scowl. "Just a reminder that you're not some big shot. You don't have an army, you don't have connections, you don't have jack. You're just the headmaster of some rinky-dink no-name s _chool_ , and if you care about yourself or _any_ of your students, then you'll get smart and learn to stay the _fuck_ out of games you can't possibly begin to play."

Ozpin stared at her flatly for a second before taking another sip of his coffee. "Oh, don't worry, Miss Xiao Long, I haven't even _begun_ to play." He turned his head up, gaze boring into Yang's eyes. "Though I do wonder. If we're so insignificant… then why are you so afraid of us?"

For a moment, Yang didn't say anything, and then she stood back up, grin back on her face. "Believe whatever helps you sleep at night, Ozzie," she smirked. "In any case, I hope you don't get it in your head to try and stop this. It's happening, whether you like it or not."

"I beg to differ," Ozpin said. "You see, as Headmaster, I still have certain rights that even this contract hasn't taken away from me."

Yang started as she realized that the contract had… shifted. As if it had been read. "How'd you-"

"For instance," he serenely continued. "Anyone who threatens the Headmaster as you just did is to be… defenestrated from the office. An old rule, seldom-used, but one that I find quite appropriate to this situation."

"What the hell does 'defenestrate' even mea-" Yang froze mid-sentence as the glowing grip of an all-too-familiar aura wrapped her up in a full-body bind.

"It means 'To throw out of a window'. A very handy word that you might have learned had you completed your education."

"Oh you _fuc_ -!"

CRASH!

A few students heard the window break. Every student heard the sound of Yang's body impacting the ground hard enough to make a small crater. The entire student body immediately rushed to the nearest windows to see the blonde pull herself out of the crater, her face thunderous and her Aura blazing.

"OZPIN, YOU FUCKER!" she shouted up at the top of the tower, prompting several students to scramble for the grounds to actually see who she was shouting at. "I AM GOING TO TAKE THIS ACADEMY IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! AND THE FIRST THING I'M GONNA DO IS THROW YOU OUT ON YOUR ASS! AND YOUR BLONDE SQUEEZE, TOO!"

"In that case, _Miss_ Xiao Long," Ozpin called from the shattered window of his office, the rising sun illuminating him from behind. "I suggest you bring an army next time."

Yang opened her mouth to retort - and then closed it, looking contemplative. "You know what, Ozpin?" she said to herself as she turned on her heel and headed for the landing pad. "I think those will be acceptable terms."

~o~

Glynda's eye twitched as she took in the veritable sea of Bullheads and Interceptors floating and soaring above and around the school. Her eye twitched again as she watched one of the various aircraft drop off a heavy anti-air gun slung under its belly. Though that might have been on account of the half-dozen brethren doing the same all along the perimeter.

That, or it was on account of the small legion of haphazardly equipped but surprisingly disciplined soldiers that were marching up to the school, headed by a number of tanks of all things.

Standing on the roof of the very lead tank, her arms crossed and clad in full military uniform with a pair of aviator sunglasses, was _General_ Yang Xiao Long, smirking maliciously, _victoriously_ at the pair of faculty members as her _army_ advanced upon them.

"I think," she ground out. "That you should have chosen your words more carefully, Ozpin."

"Perhaps," he said nonchalantly, taking a sip from his mug.

But no degree of calmness could have kept Glynda from noticing the oh-so-slight shake to his hands.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **AN: Credit to Xomniac for the portion with Torchwick.**

Velvet yawned, stretching her arms as she opened bleary eyes and sat up. The sun streaming in through the window told her that it was late morning, confirmed by a look at her - thankfully turned off - alarm clock. Glancing around the room, the rabbit faunus could see Fox sitting on his bed carving at a piece of wood, and Coco sitting on the couch, only the back of her head visible. From the sound of the shower running, Yatsuhashi was taking the opportunity to clean up.

Standing up, Velvet winced as pins and needles swept through her legs. She began hopping in place to try and make them go away, the action causing Coco to turn around and whistle appreciatively.

"Yeah, work those thighs!" she whooped enthusiastically.

Velvet sighed, but didn't stop hopping. "It is entirely too early in the morning for this, Coco."

"It's ten in the morning," Fox pointed.

"Like I said, too early."

"Oh, lighten up, Velvet," Coco admonished, leaning over the back of the couch. "We're supposed to be relaxing for a few days! Sit down and lounge!"

Velvet came to a stop, wiggling her right foot to get the last of the blood flowing, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Coco… please tell me you're wearing pants or a skirt."

"What?" Coco snapped defensively. "This is what I usually wear on days like this!"

"That's the problem," Velvet muttered, pointedly _not_ looking at her leader's breasts, which were not only barely restrained by the _very_ loose tank top she was wearing, the couch underneath was doing… interesting things to them. It was a task made possible only by the fact that yes, this was standard loungewear for the fashionista. "But seriously, are you-"

"I'm wearing short shorts," Coco interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Those count."

' _Barely. I've seen what you call short shorts.'_

"Barely still counts," Coco smugly retorted.

"... goddamn it, I said that out loud, didn't I?" Velvet groaned.

"Yes, you did," Fox provided with a sigh. "God, how I envy the deaf..."

"I'm sorry for being a nag, Coco, I just don't want a repeat of Professor Goodwitch's first inspection." Velvet gave a full-body shudder. "That's something I don't ever want to go through ever again if I can help it..."

Coco and Fox mimicked the action, the former adding an unconscious hand over her breasts. "Yeah, okay, no argument there," the fashionista agreed. She stood up from the couch, revealing that yes, she was wearing shorts, albeit extremely small ones. "No chance of that happening today, though."

"Thank god..." Velvet breathed as Coco sat back down. "Anyway, what do we have planned today?"

Coco and Fox glanced at each other, before the latter shrugged. "We were kinda hoping to just lounge around all day."

"Not happening," Velvet said immediately. "I have a lot of misplaced-but- _very_ -well-earned rage to work off."

"Not to mention," Yatsuhashi added as he stepped out of the shower, a towel hanging from his neck. "You're forcing yourself to keep from obsessing over what the White Fang is up to."

"Yeah…" Velvet agreed reluctantly, her fists clenched at her sides. "I know I should trust Ozpin and the authorities… but they're out there. Doing _something_. And it feels like we're doing _nothing_ to stop them or find out what they're up to. Worse, I know this'll consume me if I let it." She looked at each of her teammates in turn. "So I need to do _something_ to keep my mind off of this."

"Well, I say we compromise," Fox said as he reached under his bed. Coming up with him was a training dummy made of carved wood glued together. "We can lounge, and you can kick Buster here around all you want."

His teammates all stared at him with varying degrees of incredulity.

"What?"

"Fox…" Coco said slowly. "Where did you get that?"

"I made it." The incredulous stares didn't die down. "What, did you think I just threw away all the wood carvings I made?"

"Yes?" Yatsuhashi answered hesitantly.

"Well, I don't. So I made this guy!" Fox gave the dummy a proud pat on the shoulder. "He's also a lot more sturdy than wood-and-straw dummies the Academy uses. Buster here is 95% solid wood!"

"I don't know…" Velvet said hesitantly. "I don't think this is going to cut it."

"Psh, just give it a try! I'm sure you'll have all that anger worked out of your system in no time."

Giving Fox a skeptical glance, Velvet walked up to the dummy and gave it an experimental kick. It wobbled, but otherwise looked fine. Still frowning, Velvet gave it a series of six kicks, each increasing in speed and tempo.

"See?" Fox crowed. "You're doing-"

Velvet snapped out a side kick that sent Buster - and several splinters from his torso - flying into the wall, where it stuck, half in and half out.

"Never mind," Fox said in a slightly higher voice than usual. "Yeah, you do need something more strenuous."

The tense atmosphere was broken by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Coco announced, getting up to open the door.

"Coco, wait-"

The fashionista turned the knob and opened the door to see Jaune standing there, looking a little surprised.

"Uh, hey, Coco," he said nervously, pointedly looking her in the forehead. Pyrrha stood behind him, her eyes narrowed. "You, uh, you do know you have a wooden mannequin sticking out of your wall, right?"

"Yeah, we were just about to do something about that." Glancing over at Pyrrha, she winked. The other girl's gaze hardened further.

"Cool." Jaune nervously tugged at the collar of his shirt, still staring straight at her forehead. "I, uh, finally got that copy of Dust Wars I ordered, and I was wondering if any of you guys wanted to play."

"Hmm." Coco placed one arm under her breasts, pushing them up and also causing one of the straps of her top to slide off her shoulder. A finger tapped at her smooth lips in thought.

"I dunno…" she said slowly. "Velvet has some misplaced anger she needs to work out, and I'm not sure if Dust Wars would be…" Coco fluttered her eyelashes at him. " _Intense_ enough."

Jaune gulped audibly as he attempted to compose a coherent response, which in turn raised Pyrrha's blood pressure another notch. "I-I, uh… well, that is… Uhhhhhh…" Needless to say, he failed.

"YES!" Velvet suddenly shouted, grabbing Coco by the shoulder and pulling her back into the room kicking and screaming. Which only brought attention to her bare legs and midriff. "We'll be there! Where and when?!"

"Uh, well, as soon as possible in the library, but-"

"Great! See you there!" Velvet hastily kicked the door shut before whirling on Coco. "What the blue blazes was that?!"

"Aww, it was just a little teasing," Coco pouted dismissively.

"Teasing, my foot!" Velvet snarled. "You were practically seducing him!"

"Psh," Coco snorted as she rolled her eyes. "You're overreacting."

"I agree with Velvet, actually, that was very close to over the line into inappropriate," Yatsuhashi cut in.

For a moment, Coco just stood there in surprise before sighing. "Okay, I'm sure I'm not the only who's noticed Pyrrha's little… infatuation with Blondie."

Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi all glanced at each other. "Uh, actually, I'm pretty sure you _are_ the only one who's noticed. At least, among us," Fox replied.

"Are you freaking-" Coco cut herself off, shaking her head. "Okay, look, fire-head out there looked about ready to gut me, and I don't _think_ she's an active advocate for girl pride, so let's just assume it exists, okay?" Her teammates nodded. "Good. Now, obviously she hasn't done anything with it. Probably because she's waiting for him to ask her out first. But since Blondie's denser than a lead brick, he hasn't noticed. So, we need to push her to talk to him herself."

"And to do that, you decided to try and either seduce Jaune or make him die of blood loss via it all flowing south," Velvet deadpanned.

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Coco replied, sounding honestly confused.

"Just-Just get presentable, Coco," Velvet groaned, cradling her head in her hands. "I am not letting you wear that outside of our room."

As Coco marched off, grumbling, to put on some normal clothes, Velvet walked up to the door and opened it up again.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "We'll be out in a few seconds."

"Hey, no problem," Jaune replied. "We… sometimes have similar problems."

"Nora?"

"Nora."

"Anyway, just one more thing." Velvet nervously poked her fingers together. "I, uh, haven't played in a while, so could you guys go easy on me?"

"Sure! Nora and Ren have never played, so I was planning to start easy anyway."

"Oh, good," Velvet sighed in relief.

~o~

"I take all of your artillery, flatten your last mobile forces with my air units, and then set fire to half of Vacuo!" Velvet roared furiously. She then proceeded to slam three more pieces onto the board and pulled three artillery cards out of her deck, setting them among the veritable farm of units on her side of the table.

Half of Team JNPR stared at the faunus in a combination of shock and horror.

Nora, on the other hand, stared at the board in numb shock for a few moments...

"BWAAAAAAAH! MY EMPIRE! MY GLORIOUS EMPI-HI-HIIIIIRE!"

Before throwing her head back and _bawling_ miserably, sounding disturbingly like a wounded Grimm.

"There there..." Ren sighed as he cradled his inconsolable partner kindly. He then shot a glare at Velvet. "You monster."

Velvet blinked in confusion before her pupils shrank back to normal. "Ah..." She looked around hesitantly. "Too much?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Coco suddenly roared out of the blue, flinging herself so far back in her seat that she fell backwards, the impact doing little to stop her cackling.

"Ahem... so... too bad about that artillery," Jaune winced as he drew his cards for the turn. "Still, you're pretty much supply-blocked now. Which means…"

The blond proceeded to dump most of his hand on the table, placing the pieces on the board with exquisite care. All were Huntsman teams.

"Good game, Coco."

"Heheheh… huh?" Coco hastily righted herself and glanced over the board, doing a double take and rubbing her eyes before staring at it some more. "Wait, what?"

"Yes, that is twelve Huntsman teams outside your capital," Jaune said with just a hint of smugness. Reaching out, he flicked the model of Mistral over, revealing one more game piece where the city used to be. "And one inside it."

"MOTHERFU-!"

Velvet simply drew up her cards, glanced over them, and placed one down. "A supply card to expand my headcount a bit, and then I redeploy in a defensive position," she said, shuffling her pieces around Atlas. "Oh, and I'll play this face-down."

"How?!" Coco demanded. "How did he do that?!"

"He played defensively, built up his macro, and then dumped everything he had saved up on elite units," Velvet replied. "That, and he knew we'd go for the new player first."

"Whhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy…" Nora sobbed from underneath the table.

"I'll admit, I fell for that, but you didn't help by waiting so long to attack," Velvet added.

"But- my army! It was going to be perfect in another five turns!"

"'Perfect is the enemy of good enough'," Jaune quoted as he drew his cards, glancing over them. "Usually fast strategies are better. Usually. Anyway, I'll recall my huntsmen and add a couple AA defense cards."

"How did you get so good at this game, anyway?" Velvet asked as she started her turn.

"My sisters play me all the time," Jaune replied as he leaned back in his chair. "Played for the first time when I was five. I lost that game; haven't lost since."

Velvet quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Heheh, no, just against them," Jaune chuckled. "They're smart girls, but when you play someone that long they get predictable. And they're always too ready to turn on each other."

"Mm," Velvet grunted as she thought over her next move. Build up supply and wait on units? Go max units and attack immediately? She glanced over at Jaune, looking utterly unconcerned, then at his units. A thought struck her.

"I'll play another supply card," she said, adding it to the table - and then slapped another card down. "And I'm going to use 'Aerial Scan'."

The scan revealed a hidden Huntsman unit sitting right next to her supplies. It was promptly hemmed in and destroyed by a combination of robots and air power.

"Not bad," Jaune hummed as he started to draw. "Anyway, you guys've been cooped up in your room all morning, so I'm assuming you haven't heard the scuttlebutt on General Xiao Long?"

Velvet's ears perked up, and she looked up from the board. "No, we haven't. I'm not surprised there's gossip, though. That was quite the introduction."

"Well, there are a lot of opinions and theories, but they can be basically boiled down to two reactions." Jaune held up an index finger. "One, that she should be thrown out for blatantly disrespecting the Beacon staff."

"How do they know she did that?" Velvet asked, confused.

"I think the army she showed up with after getting thrown out had something to do with it," Jaune deadpanned. "Anyway, the other view is that she's a stick-it-to-the-man rebel badass that deserves all the support we can give her."

Velvet groaned and let her head thump on the table. "Ugh, idiots. That never leads anywhere good."

"Two supply cards and another artillery unit," Jaune said as he placed the necessary pieces and cards. "But yeah, I totally agree- _YEEK!_ "

Jaune promptly flinched back as a pink blur shot towards him and was arrested only inches from his face. The blur resolved into Nora, looking downright murderous with her arms outstretched towards Jaune's throat, the only thing keeping her from wringing his neck being Ren's hand on her collar.

"Nora, behave," he said.

"Now you listen here, Jaune!" Nora said, instantly switching her clawed hands for a finger jabbed into the blond's face. "If she disrespected the Beacon staff, then they had it coming! This is the woman who took fifteen men against a pack of Goliaths and came out on top! The woman who stopped an entire Grimm incursion in Vacuo barely a month after she started! The woman who evacuated Green Thumb Island after it was put under siege by a school of Leviathans! She's the one who stops the White Fang from killing Weiss Schnee! _She kills Grimm by punching them in the face for Pete's sake!"_

"Geez, Nora, I'm just relaying what other people are saying!" Jaune said, frantically trying to ward off the angry blob of pink with his arms. "Could you please just let me play the game?"

Suddenly, as if the last few seconds hadn't happened, Nora was back to her usual self. "Sure!"

"Okaaaay…" Jaune shifted back into his seat, though not without a few nervous glances in Nora's direction. "Where were we?"

"I believe it was my turn-" Velvet began before Pyrrha interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Velvet, but could you look at this picture for me?" she asked, fishing it out of her belt. "Jaune and I weren't sure if it was legitimate or not."

Velvet took the photo and scanned it over curiously. One glance later, her eyes were narrowing and her ears were folded against her head. "Yeah, this actually happened," she answered darkly. Pyrrha's expression fell, and Jaune reached over to pat her arm-

"But it's also wrong."

Only to pull up short at Velvet's words.

"H-huh?" Pyrrha looked up in confusion and more than a little hope.

"The date on this photograph, it's wrong. See this guy?" Velvet pointed at one of the male faunus picking away at the rock. "He died… about ten years ago, I think. Way before the reforms Weiss Schnee enacted when she took over the company. Oh, and he died in the _Xanadu_ mine in Mistral, not Shangri-La."

"Oh, thank goodness," Pyrrha breathed, slumping into her seat with tears shining in the corner of her eyes.

Jaune, on the other hand, was looking at Velvet in confusion. "How do you know all that?"

Velvet scowled as she slid the photo back over to Jaune. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"But-"

"Go- Gosh darn it, Jaune, I decided to join you guys exactly because I didn't want to think about this!" she snapped. "Now, I'd like to take my da- darn turn."

"Who says things like 'darn'?" Nora demanded. "Or 'gosh' for that matter."

Now visibly fuming, Velvet replied, "Someone who doesn't want crass vocabulary to reflect badly on them."

"Huh," Nora said, tapping her chin in thought. "That sounds familiar. Where did you hear that?"

Velvet opened her mouth to respond... then trailed off into silence, her eyes staring at something a thousand miles away.

"Uh-oh…" Coco said, slowly backing away from the rabbit faunus. "Yatsu, we need hugs, stat!"

Yatsuhashi quickly picked up his much smaller teammate from behind and wrapped her up in a tight hug. Velvet flinched, turning to look up at Yatsuhashi.

"Yatsu, what-"

Whatever she was saying was cut off by Coco and Fox joining in the hug. "Shh…" Coco said, gently stroking her ears. "We're here, you're fine."

Velvet's face scrunched up, and tears shone in the corners of her eyes. Giving one cute hiccup, she wiped her eyes and gave a light smile at her teammates.

"Thank you, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you…" she said gratefully.

A loud smack caught their attention, and they turned to Team JNPR's side of the table to see Nora rubbing the back of her head and looking plaintively at Ren.

"Owie, what was that for, Ren?" she whined.

"Nora," Jaune admonished. "Think about _who_ would tell her something like that."

Nora cupped her chin in thought for a moment, before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh. Oh!" She grinned sheepishly at Velvet. "Eheheheh, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking."

"It's fine, it's fine," Velvet reassured her as she extricated herself from her teammates' arms. "Just… don't bring it up again, okay?"

"Bring what up?" Nora said innocently, prompting a round of chuckles from the group. Jaune and Velvet quickly sat back down at the table and set back to the task of trying to clobber the other. A few turns passed, each player building up their army, their teammates not infrequently adding in their own tactical advice. Or, in Nora's case, constantly looking at her Scroll and sighing happily.

Finally, after the fifth time this happened, Ren reached over and plucked her Scroll out of her hands.

"Hey!" Nora snapped, reaching futilely for the device.

"Sorry, but I think you've indulged in your obsession with General Xiao Long for long enough," Ren replied, tossing the Scroll to Yatsuhashi - and thus, out of the relatively short Nora's reach. "Besides, you're distracting the players."

Velvet and Jaune both glanced at each other. "Actually, it wasn't _that_ dis-"

"'Sup, thundercunts!" Yang said as she poked her head around the bookcase. "Someone say my name?"

Both teams jumped in their seats at the sudden intrusion. Except Nora, who immediately tackle-glomped the blonde.

"General Yang!" she squealed. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, y'know, not much out of the ordinary happening, so I shoved the paperwork off on my XO and decided to just wander." She glanced around the library, no one noticing her eyes narrowing slightly. "Ah, this brings back so many memories." Looking back down, she saw the game board and leaned over it. "Dust Wars, huh? It's actually pretty good for developing tactical skills, which is why it's always a feature of game nights."

"Y-Yeah," Velvet replied, looking slightly nervous in the company of the general. "W-We're about even right now, just waiting for the right moment to attack."

Yang scanned over the board for a moment before giving the faunus an unimpressed look. "Yeah, no. Velvet, was it? Yeah, you've hit Zugzwang."

Her only answer was a half-dozen blank stares. "Uh, bless you," Pyrrha said politely.

Coco sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, have none of you played chess before? Don't answer that," she hastily added. "Anyway, Zugzwang is where any move you might take would screw you over. Think Morton's fork."

The assembled students let out a collective "Ooooh..." of understanding, while Yang nodded in agreement. "Beret here has it right. At this rate, unless Blondie here's a complete amateur, you've got three turns at most before he beats you."

Velvet turned back to the board and stared long and hard at it, her face scrunched up in concentration. Finally, she nodded and came to a conclusion. "Actually, I see a third option here."

Yang quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's that?"

"Well…" Velvet drawled as she slowly shifted her legs beneath the table. "I'm going to take a page from Coco's book here."

Without any warning whatsoever, Velvet suddenly flexed her leg upwards, flipping the table and sending the game, board, cards, and all, flying. Jaune threw up his arms to shield himself from the flying pieces, while everyone else just watched in surprise.

Yang broke the silence by throwing back her head and laughing. "Gahahahahahaha! The 'I'm taking you with me!' option! Nice!" Grinning, the blonde gave Velvet a hearty slap on the back that nearly pitched her out of her chair. "I like you, kid. If you need a job when you graduate, give me a call."

"I thought Professor Port made it clear what our stance on recruiting students was, Ms. Xiao Long."

" _General_ Xiao Long," Yang corrected automatically. "And, what, I'm not allowed to make job offers anymore?"

Yang felt a slight breeze brush her cheek, and glanced to the side to see one delicate lock of hair fall to the ground.

"Now that I have your attention," Glynda ground out as she tapped her riding crop in her hand. "I know you are aware of the rules regarding recruitment on campus, and if you continue to deliberately flout them…" She squeezed her weapon as though it were the General's neck, purple sparks swirling around its head menacingly. "Well. We can't go against a Council order, but we have ways of making things very difficult for you if we choose to."

The deputy headmistress resisted the urge to flinch as Yang turned a hard glare at her, the blonde's blue eyes now a blazing red.

"Nora," Yang said with very deliberate evenness. "Time to let go."

"Aww," she whined, even as she allowed Ren to pry her off.

The minute Nora was out of the blast radius, Yang let her Aura flare in bright yellow flame. Her red-eyed glare bored into Glynda's purple ones, this time causing the teacher to take an involuntary step back.

Then Yang took a deep breath, and her Aura winked out.

"Well," she said in that deliberately calm tone. "I should probably get back to HQ before Colonel Sanders gets _really_ upset with me. I swear, that old rooster... sometimes it's hard to tell who's actually in command, him or me."

Turning to go, she shot one last goodbye over her shoulder. "It was good seeing you guys again! Feel free to pop into my office at any time!"

For a moment after she disappeared from sight, nobody dared move. Then Glynda turned her gaze on the mess left from flipping the table.

"I do hope you were planning to clean that up," she said sternly, prompting the students to start scrambling to do so. Nodding, she too turned to leave, mulling over the previous scene in her mind.

' _The Yang Xiao Long I taught six years ago would have_ never _had the self control to calm herself like that,'_ she thought furiously. ' _Especially not regarding her hair. She's… calmer, more controlled. Why does that worry me? She'd have to be more controlled to control the Dust Devils like she does.'_

Glynda's stride faltered _ever_ so briefly as a thought occurred to her. ' _Was she truly unable to restrain herself?'_ she wondered.

' _Or… '_ Glynda bit her thumb nervously as she considered the one option she _prayed_ wasn't correct, so terrible were the connotations it held. ' _Did she simply_ choose _not to do so?"_

~o~

"Um, what do you think of this one?"

Coco and Nora hummed thoughtfully as they looked over the dress Pyrrha was wearing. A dark forest green, it was long, sleeveless, and dotted with sequins at the fringes. A pair of opera gloves in the same color finished off the ensemble.

"Okay, contrasting colors really do not work with you," Nora decided.

"I agree. And the cut of the top just does not do your arms and shoulders any favors," Coco added. She glanced up towards Pyrrha's head. "And are you sure you want to stick with your, uh, tiara-thing?"

"If possible, yes," Pyrrha replied. "So, for the next one…"

"Something more complementary, color-wise," Nora decided after a moment's thought. "Red's probably your best bet."

"On the plus side," Coco added. "Those opera gloves were a very nice touch, find some of those, too."

As Pyrrha ducked into the changing room to hang up the dress and go find another, Coco and Nora turned to Velvet, who was browsing through the racks of clothing.

"How's it going, Vel?" Coco called out.

"I found something!" Velvet exclaimed, pulling out a short-sleeved cheongsam with a long skirt, a deep bronze brown highlighted on the edges and in the floral pattern with gold.

Nora whistled appreciatively, with Coco clapping lightly. "I see my fashion lessons are finally bearing fruit!" she crowed. "But try it on, we need to be _sure_ that it works."

Nodding, Velvet ducked into the changing room, and stepped out wearing the dress.

Nora whistled once again, while Coco's jaw dropped slightly. The dress complemented her _perfectly_ , both color-wise and in showing off the strengths of her figure: her legs. They seemed… endless. And so _firm,_ especially in the thigh area...

"So? How does it look?" Velvet said, sounding a little nervous.

"W-What?" Coco exclaimed, shaking herself out of her stupor. "Oh, uh, it looks great! Uh, maybe add some stockings?"

"Oh, good idea!" Velvet said. "I'm gonna change out of this and go find those, okay? This store doesn't carry any."

"O-Okay," Coco said as Velvet ducked back into the changing room, pointedly ignoring the looks Nora and Pyrrha were giving her. She kept ignoring it while Velvet set the dress down with the ones she and Nora had already chosen, and only when Velvet was out of the store did she turn to the other two girls with a defensive "What?"

"Coco, we need to talk," Nora said with uncharacteristic grimness. "Girl-to-girl."

"We know you're head over heels for Velvet," Pyrrha bluntly stated. "And we also know that you're going to lose your chance if you don't do something about it soon."

Coco flinched for the briefest of moments before snorting contemptuously and gazing over her sunglasses in disbelief. "Right, this coming from the two who haven't said a word to either the blond boy wonder or pink-streak?"

"Th-That's not-!" Pyrrha stammered before Nora interrupted her with an elbow to her side.

"Ren and I cleared the air on each other a long time ago," she sniffed primly, or at least what she _thought_ was primly if her over-exaggerated posture and tone were anything to go by. "We have an understanding, and that's all you need to know. Do us a favor: if you're going to try and change the subject, do it properly, and not like a pussy."

This time, Coco flinched for real, glancing away from Nora's intense gaze. "I just… it's my family," she finally admitted, slumping in defeat. "Ren can give you more details, but suffice to say they're a toxic, passive-aggressive, and overly traditional bunch of _jackasses_. And it's not that they wouldn't approve, oh no. My mother would be _thrilled_ to find out that I'd actually be… 'bedding' Velvet." She gave a full-body shudder before moving on. "I'm just… I'm afraid to put Velvet in that snakepit. I'm afraid she'll turn into one of… them, when half the reason I like her so much is because she is _absolutely nothing like_ my family."

Coco sat there, slumped on her stool, for a few moments before a comforting hand stroked her head.

"I think you're not giving Velvet enough credit," Nora replied softly. "Or maybe giving your family too much credit? No, wait, that would mean you thought they were actually good people, which they're not. So too afraid of them? But you mostly just seem annoyed by them, so that's not it either-"

"What Nora is trying to say," Pyrrha cut in. "Is that if you want any kind of a relationship with Velvet to work out, you need to trust Velvet to not be so weak-willed that your family could change her so easily."

Without so much as a second of warning, Coco suddenly snapped to her feet with a snarl and grabbed Pyrrha's collar, yanking her face-to-face. "Velvet is not only pure as snow, but she has a will of _fucking iron!"_ she growled savagely. "My family couldn't so much as _scratch_ her if they fired _every bit of ammunition they've ever made at her!"_

"Great!" Nora chirped, munching on a bag of microwave popcorn she suddenly had in her hands. "Then there shouldn't be a problem with you asking her out!"

Coco opened her mouth to respond, but her inability to actually _say_ anything forced her to snap it shut, a scarlet blush painting her cheeks.

"Unless, of course..." Nora's smile took on an impish quality. "You're a little scaredy-cat, hmmmm?"

Coco twitched furiously as she stared at Nora for a moment... before finally releasing Pyrrha and slumping into a nearby chair. Her hand shaking furiously, she slowly slid her sunglasses off her face and stared at her fellow students with desperate eyes. " _Help. Me."_

For a moment, Pyrrha and Nora glanced at each other in surprise before Nora promptly snapped her hands up in surrender and stepped back. "Don't look at me, I was trying to trigger her Alpha Bitch instincts and get her to woman up, this is _way_ out of my ballpark."

"And what makes you think I'd be any help?" Pyrrha retorted.

"...you're the only remotely _girly_ one out of us?"

Pyrrha's eye twitched furiously for a moment before she let out an explosive sigh. "That's… honestly kind of sad. But no, as Coco pointed out, I can't work up the courage to talk to Jaune about this." She groaned and ground the heel of her palm into her forehead. "At least he's not chasing another girl, I don't know what I'd do if that happened."

The party fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes before Nora raised a finger to speak. "I might have some advice that I got from-"

"Those girly magazines you think we don't know you read?" Pyrrha interrupted, smirking in satisfaction as Nora stiffened and turned grey in shock. "Trust me, it's schlock. Miss Weiss showed me the writing process for those. It's not pretty, kind of like watching sausages get made."

Nora blushed furiously and let out a tiny squeak, desperately trying to distract herself with another bite of popcorn. Awkward silence descended on the group again, but this one was even worse. So when Coco's scroll buzzed, the gunner dove for it much like a man lost in the desert who's found an open spring.

Coco read over the message furiously before sagging in... relief? Despair? "Okay, so Velvet said that she needs new shoes and that we don't need to wait for her," Coco said once she finished.

"Great!" Nora said, standing up and grabbing her dress in her free hand. "Let's pay for these and start brainstorming ideas over ice cream!"

"Ugh, kill me…" Coco groaned as she did the same.

The only response she got was a rather predatory smirk from Pyrrha. " _Later."_

~o~

"Seriously, guys, trust me. This tailor does good work, and he doesn't overcharge."

Sun, Fox, and Ren all gave Jaune skeptical looks.

"Look, Jaune," Ren said soothingly. "We all trust that you know what you're talking about-"

"Speak for yourself," Fox cut in.

"But we'd very much like to know how you know a high-end tailor," Ren finished, shooting a glare at Fox for the interruption.

"He, uh, taught the sewing club I went to when I was finishing elementary school," Jaune replied, before jabbing a finger at Fox, his voice hardening. "And before you say anything, my sisters dragged me there against my will every time, that's my story, and that will be my story until the day I die."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Fox said innocently, his words belied by the smirk adorning his face.

"Well, what if some of us don't want to get a tailored suit just for a school dance?" Sun asked as they entered. "And why do you and Neptune not have to get fitted for one?"

"Sun…" Neptune ground out as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've been over this. Your usual outfit with the shirt buttoned up and a tie is not appropriate formalwear. Hell, it barely even counts as 'appropriate' for casual wear. And Jaune and I aren't getting fitted because we already _have_ suitable clothes."

"But the ladies love it," Sun bragged in a faux-suave tone, leaning back with his arms crossed above his head. "I can get any girl I want, dressed like this."

"I don't believe you," Fox replied, hiding his smirk behind his hand. "Why don't you go and prove it? Step outside and ask for the number of the first girl you see."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Sun said, snapping his fingers. "If I'm lucky, they'll be available for the dance; I still don't have a date." And with that, the monkey faunus stepped out onto the street.

"Ten lien says he gets shot down in flames," Fox said the instant he was out of earshot.

"Twenty says he doesn't," Neptune countered.

"Let's… Let's just get started with the fitting, okay?" Jaune sighed, stepping up to the counter.

A few minutes later, with Yatsuhashi getting measured in the fitting room behind them room, Sun _strutted_ back in, grinning.

"Guess who just got the number of a green-haired chick who's smokin' hot?" Sun sing-songed as he sat down with the group. "This guy!"

"The actual number or it didn't happen," Fox deadpanned.

"Yeah, she wrote it down on a piece of paper," Sun replied, as he reached into the pocket of his jeans. "I put it in my pocket so- wait." The rummaging intensified, the monkey faunus frowning as he dug through his other pocket before gaining a panicked expression. "Son of a- it's gone! And so's my wallet!"

Fox hastily stifled a bark of laughter, while Neptune just smirked knowingly.

"Wait," Sun said, holding up his hand while the other pressed against his temple. "You'd be surprised by how often this happens, so I'm prepared!"

"You get pickpocketed often?" Jaune asked in confusion.

Sun's eye twitched as he fought to keep his cool. "No, I often lose the numbers of cute girls!"

"Right," Neptune scoffed, arcing his fingers in air quotes. "You 'lose' them."

Sun snorted and jabbed his finger at his teammate. "Do you want to know what her number was or not?" he snapped, pulling out his Scroll. "And just to prove that the number is real, I'm gonna call her."

"How _do_ you recover the numbers, exactly?" Yatsuhashi asked from the fitting room.

"Easy! I lose numbers quickly, so in order to keep from falling out of contact with the lovely ladies whom I grace with my presence-" Sun rolled his eyes as Neptune fought to keep his laughter hidden behind his fist. "I have developed the power to _very quickly_ memorize Scroll numbers."

Before anyone could respond, he jabbed the nine-digit number into his Scroll, pressed the speaker button, and held out the device with a smug grin on his face.

A smug grin that started wobbling with each ring before it picked up. "Hey, sorry for calling so soon, but-!"

 _"Welcome to the Rejection Call Line!"_

Sun's face froze. "Wha-?"

" _The reason you are hearing this recorded greeting is because the person who gave you this phone number wants nothing to do with you. To speak with a specialist who will guide you through this hard time of heartache and pain, press 1. To wallow in your own misery to angsty rock music, press 2."_

Neptune snorted, then fell into full-on laughter; even Ren and Jaune were grinning like mad.

"You know what, Yatsu?" Fox wistfully called out to his teammate. "I was wrong. I don't envy the deaf. I envy those who can see. Why? Because I would give anything to see the look on his face right now."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me!" Pulling out his own Scroll, Neptune quickly snapped a photo of Sun, which served to jolt him out of his stupor. "And now it has been immortalized forever. Oh, how I love the internet."

"Neptune, you-!"

"Sun Wukong?" the tailor called out as Yatsuhashi exited the fitting room. "You're up."

Grumbling darkly, Sun stormed off for the back, but not without shooting a glare at his teammate.

"You and I are gonna have _words_ about this later," he vowed, the effect somewhat ruined by the monkey faunus ducking behind the brightly-colored curtain to the fitting room.

"So, uh, who won the bet?" Jaune said almost immediately afterward.

"Well, he got the number, but got shot down anyway…" Neptune mused. "Honestly, I gotta say Fox won this." Sighing, he pulled out his wallet and removed a twenty Lien note, handing it over to Fox.

"Thank you, thank you," Fox said, bowing as he took the bill. "And now, to the _other_ key item on our agenda here: helping Jaune and Ren-"

"Already worked it out way back when, leave me out of this trainwreck."

"Just Jaune then, to finally _grow a pair_ and ask Pyrrha out to the dance. Or to dinner or to... basically anything, really, just _do something already."_

For a moment, Jaune just sat there in stunned disbelief. "But I'm- She's-"

"Got a massive flaming crush on you," Neptune stated bluntly. "And I've seen her less than a half-dozen times. How you've missed it this whole time is beyond me."

"You haven't seen his homework assignments before Pyrrha and I are through with them," Ren dryly informed him.

"That- That can't be right," Jaune stated numbly. "She- She could get literally _anyone else_ and she has a crush on _me?_ I'm sorry, but I don't believe you."

"Frankly, whether she has a crush on you or not is irrelevant," Fox cut in. "Ask yourself this: what's the worst that happens if you do ask her out?"

"She… says no?" Jaune answered hesitantly.

"Exactly," Fox said, nodding. "And honestly, it won't that bad if it happens. It's kind of like ripping off a band-aid: really painful at first, but once that passes you realize it feels really good to get it off."

"Also, Jaune, Pyrrha isn't going to stop being your friend even if she doesn't want to date you," Ren added. "As your teammate, please just trust me on that."

"I thought you wanted to be left out of this?" Neptune asked in curiosity.

"Just because I don't want to be dragged into it doesn't mean I can't chime in with my own opinions," Ren sniffed. "Plus, I have to _live_ with them."

"And you get half of the betting pool if they hook up at the dance," Yatsuhashi added.

"And I get half of the betting pool..." Ren sighed in agreement.

"Look, we're getting off topic," Fox interrupted. "The point is, you lose very little and stand to gain a hell of a lot if you just _ask_. So, are you going to ask her?"

"I-I'll think about it?" Jaune hedged, only to flinch as a hand beaned him upside the head.

"Wrong answer," Fox said flatly. "Let's try this again. Are you going to ask her?"

"Uh, y-yes. Yes, I will."

"Good." Fox paused briefly before continuing. "One more thing. Don't make a big production out of it. Just talk to her after class or lunch or something. No poems, no songs, no flowers - actually, flowers may be a good idea, but nothing else!"

"I… thanks, Fox," Jaune said, shooting him a grateful smile. "Though… how do you know all this?"

Fox winced and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Let's just say I've been in your shoes and leave it at that, okay? I'm not proud of that time of my life."

"Got it," Jaune nodded. His face then scrunched up as a thought occurred to him. "Come to think of it, why are you helping me out with this? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything…"

Fox winced, hemming and hawing as he tried to formulate the words. "Well… you see, ah…"

"The house wants its cut while the getting's still good," Ren deadpanned.

"Yeah…" Fox said, slumping over in shame.

"Lie Ren?" the tailor called out as Sun stalked out, looking stupendously grumpy.

"What crawled up your butt and died?" Neptune asked as Ren headed into the fitting room.

The glare he got in return was practically _smoldering_. "Do you know how many needles he had in arm's reach?"

Neptune sighed, standing up and heading for the door. "Look, that chick probably just dropped your wallet somewhere. If I go find it, will you turn down the sulk a notch or two?"

Sun noticeably perked up at that. "Yeah, I would. Thanks, Neptune."

"Hey, we're bros, aren't we?" Neptune asked rhetorically. "And bros look out for each other."

' _I'm so cool,'_ he thought to himself as he stepped out of the door.

And promptly froze as he noticed he was about two inches from stepping into a puddle. Frantically windmilling his arms, he managed to adjust his trajectory so that his foot landed on a patch of raised asphalt in the middle. Neptune breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around to find no one in sight.

'... _still cool.'_

Surprisingly, finding the wallet was easy. Whoever the girl was, she had left it tucked into the arms of a nearby lamppost. Naturally, the cash was gone, but the cards were still there, as well as a note tucked into the billfold. Pulling it out, Neptune chuckled at the sketch drawing of the girl and the lines demanding more of a challenge.

"I probably shouldn't show this to Sun," he said, shaking his head ruefully as he pocketed both the note and the wallet. A splash of brown in the corner of Neptune's eye caught his attention, and he turned to see Velvet beckoning him from an alleyway.

"What's up?" he asked casually as he walked up to the girl. Velvet, for her part, looked him up and down before nodding, as if confirming something.

"I… need your help with something," she pleaded, putting as much desperation as she could into the words.

~o~

Weiss took in a deep breath, and then let it out. She repeated this exercise three more times before the elevator slowed to a stop at the Vale penthouse.

It only helped a little.

"Yang Xiao Long, what in the name of _everything_ did you do to make Ozpin _defenestrate_ you?!" she snapped, marching imperiously over to the couch containing Yang's distinctive blonde hair. "And don't even get me started on that show you put on with the Dust Devils. We do not need Beacon's antagonism at this stage of the plan, and your little _stunt_ might have ruined all that! Furthermore, I-!" Weiss frowned at the lack of response, glaring at the golden head of hair. "Hey, are you even listening to me?!"

Stomping the remaining distance to the couch, she grabbed the blonde figure by the shoulder and whirled her around... only to see that she was buffing her nails.

Weiss blinked, then sighed in exasperation as she ground the heel of her palm into her forehead. "Okay, I probably should have seen this coming. She's in the freezer?"

Not-Yang looked up and gave Weiss a beatific -and decidedly _Non-Yangish -_ smile and nod.

"Thanks," Weiss said, releasing the false woman's shoulder. Schooling her expression, she made her way over to the kitchen and the large metal door set into the back.

Weiss told guests that the freezers she had in her apartments were to store the ingredients for her large and rather frequent dinner parties, and that was true. Ruby and Blake usually told their subordinates that the freezers were for more... grim usages, no pun intended, which was also true. However, the industrial-grade freezers that all of the Strategos made standard in their bases also served another, far more critical purpose.

Grasping the door, Weiss swung it open, quirking an eyebrow at the blast of steamy hot air that shot out. Stepping in and gingerly skirting around a few small puddles, she reached up to one of the hanging slabs of meat - a rack of beef, in this case - grasped it, and gave a hard yank. The portion tore off with only a little resistance.

"Hey, Weiss," Yang said from the far end of the freezer, where she was sitting cross-legged in shorts and a sports bra. Her fists were held up before her chest, white knuckles pressed tightly together. "I'd ask if you thought it was hot in here, but we both know it's just me."

"Yes, this does seem like an especially bad one," Weiss commented as she took in the soggy cardboard and steamed everything, with water beading and dripping from every surface. "Usually you just warm things up, not cook them outright."

Yang twitched slightly, but ultimately bowed her head with a fire-laced sigh. "Look, if you're gonna yell at me, just get it over with. I know I screwed up yesterday, okay? It's just…" The air around her started to shimmer slightly, just as the water on the ground started to hiss and bubble. "Being in Beacon again… seeing that _bastard's_ face again… Oh, and you'll be happy to know that Glynda's still a tight-assed bitch."

"Quite," Weiss drawled, before smiling softly at the blonde. "Look, you seem to have this… mostly under control, so why don't you go get cleaned up? I'll arrange for the food to be disposed of-"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that-"

"We are _not_ eating your aura-cooked food, Xiao Long. Do I make myself clear?"

"...yes ma'am."

"Good, now as I was saying, I'll have the food disposed of, probably to one of the soup kitchens in the city. And then once that's all taken care of, we are going to sit down and you are going to _finally_ tell me, and by extension Blake - in detail - just what in the world happened on December sixth that made you accelerate our timetable."

Yang flinched slightly before looking at her friend pleadingly. "Weiss-"

"You dropped out in our _second year,_ Yang!" Weiss growled, cutting off the plea she'd heard and relented to countless times before. "That was a _year_ ahead of our projected schedule! I had to tap so many sources, we had to drain so much of our funds to get you your startup capital! You nearly _jeopardized everything!_ Why!?"

"Alright, alright!" Yang barked, holding up her hands. "I'll tell you, okay? Just… okay, if I take more than half an hour to clean up, you have permission to haul my ass out of there by force."

Weiss smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Deal."

Twenty-nine minutes later, the food had been shipped off, Yang's doppelganger had moved on to her toenails, and Weiss and Yang were sitting at the island set off from the kitchen, the former looking expectant and the latter fidgeting.

"Okay…" Yang mumbled as she tapped her fingers on the countertop. "Where to start…"

"Maybe when we first got to Beacon?" Weiss started. "I'm assuming this didn't happen out of the blue."

"No, you're right," Yang replied with a grimace before sighing and schooling her features. "Okay... you know how I wasn't a very good student?"

"That's a bit like saying the Grimm are numerous, but yes," Weiss drawled.

Yang half-heartedly stuck her tongue out at the white-haired woman before continuing. "Well, between that and my, uh, general authority issues and overdoing it in spars and all that, I was called in for a consultation. With Ozpin."

"Right, I remember that, too," Weiss nodded. "Though I'm not seeing how that led to you dropping out early. Usually, your first visit is to let you know you're on your last chance, not to expel you."

"They didn't expel me, I _left!"_ Yang snapped instinctively before flinching as she realized that the onyx beneath her fingers was starting to glow. "Sorry about that... A-Anyway, that wasn't the only factor. There was also the meeting we'd had in the library the day before. You know, the one where Ruby told us about Ozpin's little shadow cabal. The one that's _supposed_ to be protecting the world."

"Yes, and we all decided that he was doing a piss-poor job of it," Weiss replied, leaning back in her chair. "As I recall, that was when we _really_ got invested in the plan. Well..." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Moreso than we already were, at any rate. Were you still upset about that when you went to Ozpin's office?"

Yang chuckled humorlessly before shaking her head. "Ruby's an idealist. You and Blake saw bad things happening and decided to do something about it. Me? This is _personal_." The blonde pierced Weiss with a determined glare before continuing. "They failed us, they failed _me_. Upset doesn't even _begin_ to cover it."

Weiss' eyes were wide as she processed Yang's short rant. "I didn't realize…"

"Not your fault," Yang replied as she waved her hand dismissively. "I like to think I did a good job hiding that fact. Ruby noticed _something_ , but even she didn't realize all of it, and she's my sister. Don't beat yourself up."

"You're telling Blake personally once this is all over," Weiss ordered her frankly.

"I'm telling Blake personally," Yang repeated solemnly as she nodded her head in agreement.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Weiss clapped her hands firmly. "So," she continued. "You came into that meeting royally pissed off at the world in general and Ozpin in particular. I take it ended badly?"

"Oh, you have no idea…"

~o~

 _Yang lounged in front of Ozpin's desk, not looking into the headmaster's piercing eyes. Or, well, as much as she could lounge in a hard wooden chair._

" _Do you know why you're here, Miss Xiao Long?" he asked, breaking the silence._

 _Yang didn't reply, choosing instead to idly twirl a lock of blonde hair._

" _Very well. Sitting in a file cabinet two floors down is a file. Contained within is every complaint and writeup, disciplinary and academic, you've accumulated in your time here at Beacon." He paused, taking a deep sip of coffee. "It is quite a large file. Most imminent graduates have ones half the size of yours."_

" _So?" Yang finally said, still looking anywhere but at Ozpin. "I get passing grades. I only occasionally get detention. What's the problem?"_

" _Well, the problem, Miss Xiao Long, or rather one of two, is that it's not just faculty writing these complaints. That would be serious, but I've seen enough brilliant students who simply don't fit within the traditional school structure to know that it's a manageable issue. But when I start getting complaints from students-"_

 _This time Yang's gaze did dart to Ozpin's. "Who sent those in?" she growled, standing and looming over Ozpin's desk. "I want names, because clearly I have some people to talk to."_

" _Talk, or 'talk'?" Ozpin questioned frigidly._

 _Yang froze as her words caught up to her. "Ah..."_

" _Sit down, Miss Xiao Long," Ozpin ordered sternly. "It was hard enough getting those few to come forward with their stories. I will not have you making it harder."_

 _Yang audibly gritted her teeth, but she complied._

" _Good. Now, the other problem is your grades. Or rather, your appalling lack of effort. I've seen you work, Miss Xiao Long. Some students are simply physically gifted but poor at schoolwork, and you're not one of them. You simply don't care."_

 _Yang's eyes slowly widened, her mouth open and her fists clenched. "You're… watching us? Often enough to build a_ picture _of how well we_ study _?!"_

" _Yes, I do," Ozpin replied evenly. "I am training the next generation of Huntsmen, of the defenders of humanity. Surveillance is an unfortunate necessity to ensure that my students reach their full potential. And don't think I monitor just you, Miss Xiao Long."_

 _The blonde Huntress fought to keep from tensing as a thrill of fear ran through her, and_ not _the good kind._

" _In any case, I_ urge _you to put more focus into your studies and into not actively antagonizing the whole staff," Ozpin continued. "Because as it is, I'm afraid your father would be_ quite _disappointed in you were he still alive."_

 _For a moment, everything froze._

 _The air, time, Ozpin... Yang in particular was stricken, her eyes glazing over and staring a million miles away._

 _Then... then things became_ **hot.**

~o~

"He didn't," Weiss flatly stated. "How could he have not seen-"

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Yang cut in. "But in all fairness to Ozpin, it probably would've worked had he tried it a week earlier. Or, at least, it wouldn't have blown up in his face. On that day, though... well, pissed of at the world and Ozpin in particular and all that. Invoking my dad just made it worse. I… might have smashed his desk in two and chucked it out the window."

"So that's where that came from!" Weiss exclaimed, pointing a finger at Yang. "The whole school was abuzz about that, I'm pretty sure it's a school legend now."

"Eheheheh…" Yang chuckled, embarrassed. "I could check? I mean, I go there every day. But, yeah, that's the story. You guys know the rest."

Weiss hummed thoughtfully and leaned back in her chair. "Well…" she finally said. "That is a fairly good reason. But!" She once again jabbed a finger in Yang's face. "You will keep your temper under control while you're at Beacon. The plan hinges quite heavily on you successfully not pissing Ozpin off enough to get him to throw you out." Dropping the finger, Weiss sighed and shook her head. "And quite frankly? That terrifies me."

"Trust me, Ice Queen, I know. It scares me, too."

For a moment the two simply sat there in silence before Weiss shook her head and changed the subject. "So! What kind of reception have the soldiers gotten?"

"Oh, the students love 'em!" Yang quickly replied, snapping back to her usual exuberant self. "They've been on their... relatively best behavior, and some of them are sharing their tricks with the students. The staff are still watching like hawks for any recruitment pitches, but I've made it very clear that they're not to try any of that shit... where anybody can see or hear them, at any rate."

"Well, there's that, at least," Weiss said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Anyway, Ruby should be recruiting the last two members of the Vytal team right now, so we should be good to go on that front."

Yang grinned at that news. "Ah, so we're going with _that_ plan, huh? Neo's gonna like that."

At the mention of her name, the Yang clone on the couch perked up and turned around.

"Hey, Neo, how much do you want to mess with the heads of an entire stadium?" Yang asked.

Her doppelganger blinked slowly as she processed the statement. Her mouth then split into a massive grin as she and three new duplicates held up sign cards with 10s emblazoned on them, cheers and applause roaring throughout the room.

"I'll take that as a yes," Weiss summarized dryly.

The other doppelgangers evaporated as the original gave the ice queen a flat look that _screamed_ 'no duh'.

~o~

Hei Xiong, alias Junior, hastily threw another wad of cash into the large suitcase sitting on a shelf in his club's back room. It was soon followed up by a stack of critical files, and then plenty of clothes. A thumb drive was attached to the computer in the back, downloading critical electronic information. And sitting in a backpack were several fake IDs, at least three for each kingdom.

As he hastily zipped up the suitcase and began stacking the remaining files in a pile in the corner to burn when he got the chance, making sure that he'd gotten all of them, his mind whirled with plans and ideas, discarding most of them. For, you see, Hei Xiong, alias Junior, had done _fucked up_. And being the career criminal he was, he knew that he had to get the hell out of Dodge ASAP, and to the only major kingdom that was even _remotely_ safe: Mistral.

As he double-checked the files to be disposed of and pocketed the thumb drive, running a magnet over his computer's hard drive with his other hand, he came to a dispiriting conclusion: he didn't have all of them.

"Yo, Benny!" he shouted towards the door as he double-checked to make sure the computer was wiped. "Where the hell did you guys put the files on the Omerta business?"

The distinct lack of an answer caused him to frown and look up from the computer. "Oh, for fuck's sake…" he spat, walking up to the door to the main bar area. "Benny, I realize that making bombs is hard, but wiring our liquor stock into a firebomb isn't _that_ -"

The words died in his throat as he opened the doors that led out onto the dance floor. Scattered across the plastic tiles were his men, all unconscious… or dead. Not that the distinction was important, though. Not compared to the person sitting at the bar.

The long red cloak, the shoulder-length dark brown hair with red tips, the airy, black-and-red flowing skirt that came down to her shins... oh, and of course the massive red sniper-scythe that was taller than he was.

Yes indeed, Junior had done fucked up in a most _spectacular_ manner, for sitting at his bar was the Bloody Rose herself. And he was one of the few people in the world who knew her name.

"Man, Sniper and Engineer really trashed this place, didn't they?" Ruby Rose sighed wistfully. "Which sucks, 'cause I kinda liked it here." She paused, and then turned towards him as if she had just noticed his presence. Junior knew better; she'd known where he was the instant she'd walked in the door. "Ah, Junior, just the person I was looking for." She patted one of the bar stools next to her. "Sit down. We have a lot to talk about."

Sweating profusely, Junior nervously tugged at his collar. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Miltiades and Melanie laying on the dance floor. One could _assume_ that they were unconscious, but if the way they were tensing up was anything to go by, they were probably just faking it. At that moment, Junior would have given _anything_ to trade places with them.

For a moment, he chanced glancing at one of the emergency exits-

BANG!

-and promptly withheld a whimper of pain and terror as the very _tip_ of his ear burned.

"Sit. _Down,"_ Ruby emphasized sweetly, Crescent Rose still pointing at Junior's head as she supported it with one arm without so much as a glance in his direction. "You won't like me if I have to ask you again."

He sat.

"Good, good," Ruby said, folding up Crescent Rose and leaning it against the bar. "Now, I'm not going to bore you with the whole 'You done fucked up!' speech, because judging from the tickets to Mistral you bought you know that already."

Junior made a sound not unlike a goose with the flu getting stepped on by an elephant.

"By the way, while Mistral isn't a _bad_ choice, you could've done much better," she added airily as she swirled the straw in her drink. "I know the word on the street is that we're not there, but in truth... well, it's kind of true, but we're trying! It'd only be a matter of time. You'd still be a dead man walking."

"W-What do I have to do… to live to tomorrow?" Junior croaked.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Ruby chirped, clapping her hands. "Well, for starters... Hmm..." Ruby hummed lightly as she tapped her chin in thought before clapping her hands with a grin. "Oh, I know!" She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at his girls' prone forms. "I'll take those twins of yours."

The two girls in question immediately shot to their feet and bolted for the door.

As they reached the threshold, it seemed like they'd _actually_ manage to get away, for a single, brief, _shining_ moment.

THWACK!

"GAH!"

Until a rod of metal swung out from behind the doorframe and rammed into them both, sending them tumbling.

"Hey there, Junior!"

Junior's heart sank at the sickeningly familiar voice that greeted him. "Oh no... not _him._ "

"Oh yes, me!" Torchwick crowed as he stepped into the club, his arms spread wide in greeting. "Long time no see you little _brat!_ Ah, this brings back so many _memories..._ you know what?" Torchwick's grin widened to truly maniacal proportions. "I'm so happy I think I'm not only gonna dance... I'm gonna _sing."_

He leered at the Malachite twins as they scrambled to their feet, staring at him in terror. "Care to join me for a song, ladies?"

The twins' response was to charge him in desperation, splitting up in an effort to surround him.

Torchwick chuckled as he swapped his gaze between the two before finally _moving,_ twisting to ram his Melodic Cudgel's barrel into the red-clad twin's unguarded throat, all while ramming his elbow into the white one's face. " _I'm siiiiingin' in the rain!"_

Torchwick strode up to Miltiades as she stumbled back away from him, massaging her neck. " _Just siiiiingin' in the rain!"_ he sang as he flipped his cane in his hand and used the hook to yank the girl's leg out from under her, sending her tumbling to the floor. He then stepped to the side and swung his cane back, catching Melanie in her midsection as she tried to ambush him and flipping her around the metal before slamming her into the floor as well.

"You see, me and some... associates I'm currently working with need a team in the Vytal Tournament," Ruby explained to Junior, who was watching the battle with wide eyes. "But, well, normally we'd tap into our respective pools of minions, except this time they're all either too weak or too visible. Torchwick here falls into the latter category, for instance."

Torchwick's smirk was sadistic as he stalked around the pained twins, watching them struggle to get back to their feet. " _What a glorious feeeelin'!"_ he crooned as he snapped his cane out and knocked the twins' hands out from under them. " _I'm happy again!"_ _That_ he punctuated by snapping a kick into Melanie's side, causing the air to rush out of her.

He then proceeded to flip Miltiades over and bring his foot down on her stomach, causing her to curl up and clutch at the body part. " _I'm_ lau- _ghing at clouds!"_

"Well, all but three, but you need four for the tournament," Ruby continued. "So that's where the girls come in. We need them to fill out the spots. Well!" Ruby tilted her head thoughtfully. "Not _them_ , per se, just people who are not only reasonably skilled but plausibly unaffiliated with us. They just happen to fit our criteria and are the most convenient choices available."

Torchwick snickered as he spun Melodic Cudgel around in his hand. " _So dark up above!"_ He jumped and clicked his heels gleefully before landing squarely on Melanie's heel, revelling in both her scream and the sound of snapping cartilage. " _The sun's in my heart!"_ He snapped Melodic Cudgel out and unloaded a round point blank into Miltiades' foot, blasting a hole clean through it and laughing gleefully as she shrieked in pain.

"Though really now, if we're being honest…" Ruby said, shrugging helplessly. "We only _really_ need one of them."

Torchwick's grin was truly demonic as he leveled his cane's barrel at Melanie's face. " _And I'm ready..."_ he leered darkly. " _For love..."_

" _NO!"_ Miltiades shrieked desperately.

For a moment, Junior sat rooted in his seat before he frantically jumped to his feet. "Alright, alright!" he pleaded. "Alright, you can have them! For… whatever! Just-just _stop,_ damn it!"

"Good choice," Ruby replied with a satisfied nod as she flicked her hand up. "How are they, Torchwick?"

"Weeeell, they're not _completely_ hopeless, which is high praise from me," he drawled as he pulled up his cane and tapped its length on his shoulder. "We probably have enough time to get them to the point where the brats can carry them through the four-on-fours."

The Malachite twins breathed identical sighs of relief, before something Torchwick had said registered. "Wait, ' _we'?_ "

Everyone except Ruby and Torchwick flinched as a short young woman literally _shattered_ into existence next to bowler-clad gangster, a pink streak in her hair and a parasol and ice cream cone in her hands. The woman grinned, then gave the ice cream a seductive lick.

It was at this point that someone finally, inevitably did something stupid. And not the regular kind of stupid, the kind where you forget your glasses because they're on your face, oh no. This is the kind of stupid that compels people to climb into tiger pens at the zoo, to go fishing with dynamite. One of the goons, his sunglasses hanging uselessly from one ear and a massive bruise spreading over his face, staggered over to the group, grabbed Neo by the shoulder and pressed a gun to her head.

For a second, nobody moved, before Neo shot a questioning glance at first Ruby, then Torchwick. And when they didn't respond, she looked at Junior. For his part, the criminal simply sighed and hung his head in despair. "Joe, you _fucking_ idiot."

"Wha-" was all he got out before the ice cream cone made first contact with his left eye and rapidly converted it to hysterical screaming. Joe fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his eye, allowing Neo to straddle him and keep stabbing. Once, twice, thrice, _more,_ the stabbing kept going, accompanied by more screaming and blood and... _fluids_ flying everywhere. The Malachite twins stared in horror, Junior stared in despair, and Torchwick merely eyed the drops of blood flying out, idly sidestepping the few that got too close.

Finally, long after Joe's pained screams had died down into a wet gurgle, the only sound was the cone stabbing into the slab of meat that had once been a person. Satisfied, Neo stood up, splattered in blood, and nodded at her handiwork with pride.

"So she's been treating you well, huh?" Torchwick deadpanned.

The heterochromatic young woman glanced at her old employer before shifting her gaze over to the Malachite twins and giving them her best ear-to-ear toothy smile. She then opened her mouth and bit down on the last of her cone with an audible _crunch_.

The twins flinched and stepped back involuntarily. "... Can't you just kill us now?" Miltiades whimpered fearfully, Melanie nodding desperately in agreement.

"Sorry, girls, but that would be too kind," Roman drawled, insincerity dripping from every word. "C'mon. If we're gonna whip you two into shape, and I do mean that _very_ literally, we gotta start now. And that means patching up your feet, otherwise you'll just die. And that would be... _annoying._ "

And with that, Roman clamped down on the twins' arms and started dragging them towards the entrance, Neo trailing behind and making a game of stepping down on as many skulls as she possibly could as she went. That left Junior and Ruby relatively alone in the now liberally bloodstained bar.

"Well, that went well!" Ruby chirped. "I do love when I only have to make one stop. Now, what am I gonna do with you…"

Junior gulped audibly as Ruby turned a gaze on him that was _far_ more predatory than anything else she'd done. "I, uh, I was hoping I could still get to Mistral," he said nervously. "Did pay a lot for those tickets, heh heh…"

"Hey, now there's an idea," Ruby said thoughtfully, grinning. Reaching out, she slapped him on the shoulder. "You do that. You go to Mistral, you set up shop..."

For a brief, _shining_ moment, Junior felt hope.

"And you wait for my call."

And just like that, it all came crashing down. "...what?" Junior whispered weakly.

Sliding off the bar stool, Ruby sashayed out of the wrecked club. "Welcome to the Crimson Thorns, Junior," she called over her shoulder, before stepping onto the street and vanishing in a flurry of rose petals.

Finally, with the Bloody Rose gone, Junior let the stress of the last fifteen minutes set in, and slumped to the floor, hanging his head on his knees. It took him another half hour of just sitting there before he could look at his right sleeve. And the red, thorny rose pressed into the cloth.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **AN: I'll be honest, I technobabbled my way through the scene with the propellant. I hope it at least sounds plausible.**

"Hmm hmm hm-hm…"

Nora hummed a toneless tune as she scrubbed at a twisted, blackened piece of metal. It was an open question whether it was black from scorch or paint, but regardless, the black was coming off, if stubbornly.

Still humming, the orange-haired girl grabbed the bottle of cleaner and squirted some more onto the cloth, before setting back to scrubbing. After all, it wouldn't do for her souvenir, nay, her _trophy_ to be in bad condition, would it? Other collectors would probably have left the grime on for authenticity or something like that, but not her! No, she wanted her memories of her conquest to be spic and-

"Hm?" Nora blinked in confusion as something caught her attention. Squinting, she held up the metal to her eye. A small bit of the muck had finally come off, giving way to... something. Something... familiar...

The hammer-wielder's heart jumped into her throat. ' _No...'_ she thought frantically. ' _No, no that's not poss-!'_

"Nora?"

Nora jumped in her seat with a squeak as she heard the door open, nearly throwing the piece of metal up in the air. As it was, she spent a few precious seconds fumbling with it before she managed to grab it in her fist and - in an act of desperation - shove it into her waistband before wheeling around with a panicked grin. "H-h- _hey Ren!"_ she chirped hastily.

"Nora…" Ren started before pausing as he tooked her dishevelled appearance in. "What were you doing?"

"I was just, uh…" She glanced over at the nearby cloth and the can of cleaner. "...polishing Magnhild?"

"...your hammer."

"Yup!"

"...which is in your locker."

"Yu-! Uh... Oh, so that's where it was! I've been, uh… looking all over for it!" Nora plastered her best smile on her face and hoped Ren bought it.

"Right…" Ren drew out, his narrowed eyes showing that he clearly didn't buy a word of it, but his posture practically screaming that he was too tired to call her out on it at the moment. "Anyway, you should get dressed, Velvet's running an errand with Neptune, so Coco enlisted us to help her with decorating the gym for the dance."

"No problemo, Ren!" Nora chirped, giving him a snappy salute.

"And try not to stick your finger into a wall socket again."

"Psh, what!? Name one time when I've done that-!" Nora scoffed.

"When we were five years old and playing at your house."

"Y-yeah, well, I was just a kid, you know! I haven't done that in years!"

"There was also last month when we were out of coffee."

"I-I-I was tired! I wasn't thinking straight!"

"And last week when you were bored."

"Ah... I... heheh... I-I-I need to get dressed, w-would you mind-?"

"And last night when-"

"OUT!" Nora screamed, bodily shoving her friend through the doorway and slamming the door behind him. Huffing and puffing heavily for a moment, she finally sighed and slowly fished the piece of metal out of her waistband, looking at it nervously for a moment before shaking her head in denial.

"No," she growled at the piece of metal, jabbing her finger on the annoying spot. "You are a lying liar who lies, and I don't believe you. Do you have anything to say for yourself?!"

Thankfully, the piece of metal didn't respond.

"That's what I thought, mister!" she snapped, opening her underwear drawer and shoving it in. "You've earned a time-out! Now stay in there and think about what you've done!"

"Nora, are you talking to your eye-floaters again? I've already told you to stop looking at the sun a thousand times now."

"Sorry Ren, coming!" Nora called back hastily.

~o~

"Nononono, the red streamers go _there_ , not _there_. And Yatsu, careful with those amplifiers, they're-!"

"WHEEEEE!"

*CRASH!*

"... expensive," Coco finished lamely as the multi-thousand-Lien piece of equipment crashed to the ground, Nora bounding off in another direction, her Aura crackling. "Oh for pity's sake, can't someone _control her_?!"

"No..." Jaune groaned wearily as he balanced a pair of food-laden trays in his hands.

"Not even close," Pyrrha agreed with a sigh as she manipulated a few metallic decorations to hang from the ceiling.

"Nope," Ren drawled as he walked past carrying a gallon bucket of punch.

"Ugh!" Coco growled as she took in the scene: Nora bounding about, giggling, Fox reclining against the wall, and Jaune and Pyrrha steadfastly refusing to meet each other's eyes and yet constantly sneaking glances at each other. At least Ren and Yatsu were putting their all into it, but the results spoke for themselves, honestly.

"You!" she snapped, jabbing a finger at Fox. "Why aren't you helping?!"

"I am helping," he drawled. "I'm providing moral tactical support." He lazily raised a fist and gave it a half-hearted wave. "Go team."

It was a credit to Fox's nerve that he didn't even flinch at the array of barrels that was suddenly shoved in his face.

"I will _eviscerate_ you," Coco growled, pure malice dripping from her every word.

"Please don't," Yatsuhashi requested as he set up another amplifier. "Then we'd have to clean up the bloodstain on top of decorating."

Slowly, and with great reluctance, Coco lowered her gun. "Fine. You live." Her eyebrows disappeared completely behind her glasses. "For now."

"Yippee."

"My, my, it seems you could use some… assistance."

Coco whirled around to see Cinder Fall stride into the gym, taking in the unfinished state of the decorations. " _You!_ Yes!" she cried out, diving to Cinder's feet and clutching at her calves. "Please! Save me! I'll give you anything, my first born, my fortune, my virginity-"

"HA!" Fox barked in honest amusement.

Coco took a moment to snap a glare at her teammate before returning to her pleading. "I'll even give you my _soul-!"_

"I say again, HA!"

"CRAM IT, FOX! Just please please please, make this shitshow of a nightmare _end!"_

"Should we take offense to that?" Jaune asked Ren curiously.

"Nah, she's right, this has been a bit of a shitshow so far," the martial artist conceded.

The creak and crash that heralded the DJ table collapsing in on itself only served to emphasize the point.

"Hm," Cinder mused as she glanced around the room before finally settling on a target. "That's a very nice hat you're wearing."

Coco flinched and glanced away from the secretary as she clutched her headpiece desperately. "W-Well, I, uh…"

"Oh, do stand up, dear," Cinder tittered. "All I need is the name of the store you purchased it at. And to show that I'll hold up my end of the bargain-"

Without even looking, Cinder reached out and plucked Nora out of the air by her collar.

"Hey! What gives?" Nora whined, flailing in the secretary's grip. Any further protests were cut off by a handkerchief tasting of dirt imposing itself on her mouth.

"That should do it," Cinder said, holding the cloth in place for a few minutes. Slowly, gradually, Nora's movements became less frantic, and the electricity bled out of her Aura. Finally, she slumped to the ground, Cinder pulling the handkerchief out of her mouth.

Nora was back on her feet in seconds. "I'm okay!" she announced. She then proceeded to flop forwards onto her face. "...I can't move my legs, but I'm still okay!"

Cinder cocked an eyebrow at the student before glancing down at the cloth. "That... might have been too fine a quality of Dust."

"Who the heck cares!?" Coco cheered eagerly. "With her down, at least we'll stop taking ten steps backwards for every step forwards! Thank you _so much_ , Miss Fall, this means the world to me!"

"Speaking of which," Fox cut in. "You mind telling us who this is?"

"This is Cinder Fall-" Coco and Pyrrha started simultaneously. They glanced at each other, before Pyrrha waved Coco forward.

"Anyway, this is Cinder Fall. Officially, she's Weiss Schnee's personal secretary, but she also moonlights as a high-level fixer for the SDC. She's made more messes go away for the company and their allies then I can even begin to count," Coco explained before looking at the woman with barely restrained euphoria. "Which means, if she offers you help with a problem for almost free, you _fucking take it_."

"Mm, I appreciate the compliment, Miss Adel," Cinder said as she took in the gym. "Could I see the plans for the decorations, please?"

"Here, they're on my Scroll," Coco replied eagerly, handing the device in question to Cinder.

"Ms. Fall?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly as the secretary looked over the plans. "Not that we don't appreciate the help, but what are you doing here?"

"Ms. Schnee sent me ahead to make sure everything is going smoothly for the Festival," Cinder replied, handing the Scroll back to Coco. "She is the primary sponsor of the whole event, after all. I'm sure you know her perfectionist tendencies quite well, Miss Nikos."

Pyrrha blushed as Cinder seemed to come to a decision. Pulling out her Scroll, she dialed a number and put the device up to her ear.

"Antonio? Yes, I have a job for you. Very short notice, nothing too fancy. … Just a school dance. Like I said, nothing too fancy. … Of course. … Fifteen minutes? Excellent. I'll get everyone out of the way."

The students gaped as Cinder ended the call and slipped her Scroll back into her pocket.

"Did- Did she just-" Jaune started.

"Call up an event organizer and have him redo the decorations and music on _extremely_ short notice?" Weiss Schnee answered as she walked into the gym. "Yes. Yes she did. There's a reason why some people have described her paycheck as 'obscene'."

Jaune winced. "Were we really doing that badly?"

"Yes, you were," Cinder bluntly answered. "Still, I believe you would have done fine if Miss Valkyrie hadn't…" She glanced over to a scorched, melted hunk of plastic sunk into the wall. "Stuck her finger into a wall socket."

"I got bored and thought it would make things go faster..." Nora mumbled into the floor.

"You. It makes _you_ go faster," Ren deadpanned.

"Anyway, we should probably head outside now that we have things set up," Weiss said. She frowned as Nora attempted to stand, only for her legs to give out and dump her on the ground again. "And maybe get your friend to the infirmary."

"I told you, I'm fine," Nora mumbled through the floor.

"And I told you: no, you're not," Ren countered as he scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

He blinked as he took in the nearly empty gym, only Fox staying behind. "They left already. Good luck!" And with that, he too ambled out the door.

Sighing, Ren shifted his grip on Nora and set out for the infirmary. The explanation of "training accident" was accepted quite easily, and Nora was soon in the bed with some hot pads on her legs to loosen up the muscles.

"My legs are sore…" Nora groaned.

"That's what you get for overdoing it, dummy," Ren said, tapping her nose. "Think you'll be okay if I go rejoin the others?"

"But, Ren, you can't go! I'm boooooored!"

Both teenagers chuckled at the overwrought whining. "I think if that's all you need to worry about, you'll be fine," Ren said. "Now, behave."

"Oh, hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"General Xiao Long," Ren replied frostily as Nora squeed quietly, looking up at the woman who was holding one of her troopers under her arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, as you can see, Jim-Bob here pulled… something in today's sparring match," Yang replied, shifting the weight so she could fill out a form. "And the school infirmary was closer, so I figured I'd just drop him off here."

"My groin, sir…" the newly named Jim-Bob groaned.

"Right, pulled his groin!" Yang repeated. "Anyway, let me just get him settled in and we can talk." And with that, she walked out of sight, presumably to drop the poor man off in one of the beds.

"Hey," Nora said softly as soon as Yang was out of sight. "Why are you being all snippy with her?"

"I am not being snippy," Ren bit off.

"Yes, you are," Nora said, crossing her arms. "Do I have to be the mature one today? Because that thought kinda scares me."

"Mature, right," Ren snorted. "Because glomping onto General Xiao Long every time you see her is _so_ mature."

"For Pete's sake, Ren, what's your problem?!" Nora snapped, looking uncharacteristically angry. "If you have something to say, say it! Don't wrap it up in this passive-aggressive bullshit oh hi General Yang!"

"So, what's ne-" Yang cut herself off as Ren stood up from his chair and stormed out of the infirmary. "What's up with him?"

"He's being stupid and snippy and I don't want to talk about him right now," Nora huffed, keeping her arms crossed and looking away.

"Alright then," Yang agreed. "So, I heard something about you sticking your finger in a wall socket…"

~o~

"Uh, are you sure it's alright to just leave them behind?" Jaune asked uncertainly as their small party left the gym.

"It's fine," Weiss said dismissively. "They need to go to the infirmary, and it's always best to let lovebirds like them have some alone time."

The students all glanced at each other in confusion. "Uh, they're not actually dating, Ms. Weiss," Pyrrha corrected.

"They aren't?" Weiss exclaimed, her eyes wide. "I could've sworn…"

"Ren said they had an 'agreement', whatever that means," Fox volunteered as he rejoined them.

"Nora said the same thing…" Coco mused.

For a moment, all were silent, before Cinder spoke up. "Are you sure they're not dating?"

"Well, not anymore I'm not," Coco grumbled.

"Anyway," Weiss said, slightly embarrassed. "Moving on, how's the family doing, Miss Adel? For such an influential clan it is _so_ hard to get any kind of credible news on them. For example, I've heard rumors of gambling issues among some of your cousins."

Coco snorted. "If by problem you mean they've been using their unholy luck to clean out Vacuo's casinos, then yes, there are a few 'issues'. Seriously, I don't even know if the twins have seen a day where lady luck hasn't been on their side."

"See, this is why I'm asking you, my dear," Weiss said sweetly. "So much easier than to have to call up the Vacuan casinos, especially the illegal ones. I suppose those rumors about financial troubles are so much drivel."

"Where did you hear that?" Coco asked, genuinely surprised. "Because if the number of parties my parents have been throwing is any indication, they have _too much-_ oh son of a bitch they're smokescreens." She was silent for a moment as she contemplated the revelation before smirking viciously. "Good riddance. A little humility might do them some good and oh who am I kidding they're just going to double down, and I will be watching from afar and _laughing_ as it all burns."

"Not even the loss of the cash cow you pad your fashion fund with can ruin your mood, huh?" Fox noted.

"Oh, no no, I'm freaking out about that internally, I promise you that, and I'm definitely going to _eviscerate_ some ice cream cartons later, but for now? Yeah, yeah, I'm happy."

"Ah, pardon me, but... Miss Schnee?" Pyrrha spoke up hesitantly. "Not that I'm not happy you're here, but... I'm just curious: what are you doing here?"

Weiss smiled kindly at her young protege before looking at Coco. "Allow me to answer your question with another question: Miss Adel, I didn't recognize the ammunition your weapon was using. Am I right in suspecting you designed it yourself?"

"Uh, yes?" Coco answered, blinking at the apparent non-sequitur. "Standard rounds just don't have enough 'oomph', so I had to make them myself."

"Can I see one of them?" Weiss asked, holding out her hand.

Casting a confused glance at her teammates, Coco shrugged indifferently before fishing one of the rounds out of her belt and handing it over. Weiss held it up to her eye, examining the base and the round itself.

Nobody noticed Jaune pulling Pyrrha away from the group.

"Standard primer, the round looks normal," Weiss said thoughtfully. She placed it back into palm and bobbed her arm up and down. "A little heavy for its size, but nothing out of the ordinary. Can I open it up?"

Coco nodded, and Weiss conjured up a pair of glyphs that hauled the round apart. She tilted the cartridge over, tapping some of the propellant into her hand. And one look at the propellant later, her eyes had widened considerably.

"Is this Wind Dust mixed in here?" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yup. Mixing in Wind Dust increases the surface area and puts the oxidizer directly in the propellant," Coco explained proudly. "What that means is a longer burn time and more energy in the propellant, and thus about, oh, 10% more muzzle energy. Give it a nice, hard-cored bullet to take the extra velocity, and you've got a major increase in hitting power. It was a bitch figuring out how to mix it properly so that the burn stays even."

"First year smelled like bat guano and burnt flesh," Yatsuhashi sighed heavily.

"Miss Adel," Weiss said slowly. "What you have done here is… incredible! This is a significant boost to conventional firearms, and believe me, they need a boost. Now, I checked the patents, and this process is not patented. If you did so, I believe that would solve all of your financial issues in one fell swoop. The weapons companies and the military would be breaking down your door to buy it."

"Wait, what?!" Coco exclaimed, her glasses slipping down her nose in surprise. "But… this is a family formula that we've been using for at least three generations! I thought they'd already patented the process!"

"You can check for yourself, but they have not," Weiss replied. "I'll confess, while I am here to check on the festival preparations, I'd normally let Ms. Fall handle that. I came in person to talk to you."

Coco was silent as she digested that. "You want the propellant design," she stated. "And since it's not patented, you're afraid my family will steal the march on you and do it themselves."

"Exactly. Selling the patent would solve _their_ financial issues as well," Weiss nodded. "You patent it, I buy the patent. I gain a new product, you gain a tidy financial windfall and stick it to your family at the same time. A good deal, in my opinion, but I'm not so crass as to demand you make a decision now.

"That said, I do recommend you make that decision before the quarterly earnings are released," Weiss continued. "That's the perfect time for the Adel's to make their move." She patted Coco on the shoulder. "Think on it, okay?"

A polite cough sounded from behind them. "Miss Schnee," Bartholomew Oobleck announced, holding his hand out. "It's good to see you on the halls of Beacon again."

"Thank you. It's good to see you again, too, Dr. Oobleck," Weiss replied, shaking his hand in greeting. "I was just informing Miss Adel of an excellent business opportunity that she was apparently unaware of."

"Yes, yes, I managed to catch the tail end of the conversation," Oobleck continued, adjusting his glasses. "I had to make sure you weren't trying to hire her straight away. I know you have scrupulously followed the rules regarding hiring students, but with General Xiao Long here long-term we are, I confess, a little on edge."

"Oh, I understand, Doctor, believe me," Weiss replied, rolling her eyes. "The general's kleptomaniacal HR practices have led her to attempt to hire Ms. Fall on more than one occasion."

"I've always summarily refused her, of course," the secretary shrugged. "I find that military fatigues don't compliment me, and I prefer eviscerating my enemies in the board room, not in live combat."

"Quite right, quite right!" Oobleck nodded swiftly in agreement. "Is there any way I can convince you to return to finish your curriculum? I quite enjoyed having you as a student, and I dare say that I was not the only one who was quite sad that you had to leave to sort out that _Wunderland_ mess."

"Wait, what is Wunderland?" Jaune said as he and Pyrrha jogged back up to the group. "Winter mentioned it when we were talking to her a few days ago."

The group took in the somewhat disheveled appearance of both students, as well as the fact that they had just run up to them. "What?" Jaune said defensively.

"What were you two doing?" Fox asked, before holding up a hand to ward off the response. "Never mind, I don't want to know. What I want to know is how you don't know what Wunderland is."

"Well then, allow me to explain!" Oobleck announced. "Wunderland was a Schnee Dust mine in Mistral. It was their flagship mine, with hundreds of workers and making millions in profit for the company. However, what the miners did not know was that there were pockets of toxic gasses trapped in the rock around the mine, and they lacked the appropriate safety equipment to handle the gasses should they get into the mine. So, when they inevitably broke open a particularly large pocket they… well, they went mad and tore each other to pieces."

The students recoiled at that, Jaune looking distinctly green around the gills.

"I… didn't know that," Coco breathed. "I-I thought they just all died, period!"

"That part was kept from the public. The backlash was bad enough, and nobody wanted to make it any worse," Oobleck explained.

"But, wait," Jaune interrupted. "This was an accident, right? Why did Miss Schnee have to go sort it out herself?"

"The investigation revealed an environmental study that made it quite clear that those gasses were present," Oobleck continued, taking a sip of coffee. "And yet, the report never reached those in charge of the mine operations. Weiss was instrumental in revealing that Kalt Schnee, CEO of the company at the time, had known and covered it up in the name of profit, as had her sister Winter Schnee. Worse, the investigation revealed hundreds of other incidents, smaller in scale but no less damning."

"Miss Schnee essentially gutted the company in order to reveal all the corruption present within," Cinder informed them formally. "It was... quite the crusade, if I do say so myself."

"I'd known for years that my family was... far from perfect..." Weiss sighed heavily. "But this... this was the final straw. So, I had to retire them. Forcefully."

Jaune paled. "Wait, you mean you-"

"No!" Weiss immediately denied. "Goodness, no! For goodness' sake, you _talked_ to Winter yourself! No, no, what I meant is that I removed them from power within the company. Father and Winter are living in nice retirement villas in Mistral under unofficial house arrest. Or, at least," she frowned darkly. "Winter _was_. I thought I'd made it quite clear to her that there would be consequences if she ever left. I'll have to do something about that..."

"She, uh, also gave us this," Pyrrha said, slipping the photo of the faunus miners out of her belt and handing it to Weiss. The businesswoman took it and looked it over, her eyes hardening in recognition. Finally, she sighed and handed it back to Pyrrha.

"Real photograph, fake date and location," she concluded. "But I think you already knew that, right?"

Pyrrha nodded in relief. "I never doubted you for a moment, Miss Schnee."

"Weiss! Honestly…" Weiss reflexively corrected, an indulgent smile spreading across her face. "Good luck in the tournament, Pyrrha. But honestly? I don't think you'll need it."

"Miss Schnee, we need to…" Cinder trailed off, tapping her watch expectantly.

"Ah, yes," Weiss replied, turning to leave. "Well, it was good talking to you all, but I do have another appointment to go to. I'll see you all for the tournament."

As the two walked away, Oobleck took a deep sip of his coffee before turning back to the students. "Well! As much as I like filling gaps in knowledge, I really must get back to grading papers. Ta-ta!" And with that, he vanished in one of his trademark blurs.

For a moment, everyone just shuffled awkwardly before Fox broke the tension the only way he knew how. "So…" he drawled, wagging his eyebrows. "What were you two up to while Schnee was giving Coco her sales pitch?"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha promptly flushed red and tried to answer simultaneously. "W-We were-!/I was just-!"

The two glanced at each other, before speaking in unison again. "You go first-"

"Oh God," Coco groaned, running her hand down her face. "They're gonna be one of _those_ couples."

"Salutations!"

"SON OF A GRIMM!" Coco howled as she leapt almost a clear foot off the ground before wheeling around to snarl at Penny. "How the _fuck_ did you just do that!?

"She's very quiet, you know," Fox replied absently. "Doesn't jibber-jabber unnecessarily. Or breathe, for that matter." He smirked. "Doesn't matter to _me,_ of course, but most people won't see her coming at all."

"And you didn't tell us she was coming… why?" Coco growled in a tone of voice that demanded a _very_ good answer.

"Uhh... Because it was funnier this way? You think a person knows you..."

As Coco fought against Yatsuhashi's grip in an attempt to strangle Fox, Pyrrha and Jaune crowded around Penny. "Penny! Coco told us you'd vanished after the fight on the docks," Pyrrha said worriedly. "We didn't know where you'd gone, and we haven't seen you since!"

"It's alright, Pyrrha," Penny replied. "I… actually wasn't supposed to be there, so when my father came to pick me up, I was… oh, what's the word…" Penny frowned thoughtfully before lighting up in realization. "Right! Grounded! I was grounded."

"So, what are you doing here, then?" Jaune asked curiously.

"I managed to convince my father that since I would be fighting in the tournament, I should be able to go to the dance tonight," Penny replied cheerfully.

"Wait, and your father would be…?"

Penny pointed up, just as an Atlesian airship blotted out the sun, flanked by two Dust Devil Bullheads.

"Oh…" Jaune said simply, scratching his head. "Well, now the fact that Pyrrha and I are going to the dance together just seems lame in comparison."

"Yeah..." Coco nodded numbly for a second before snapping her head towards him. "Wait, _what!?_ Ahhhh son of a-"

"Pay up," Fox grinned eagerly.

" _FUCK!"_

~o~

Nora skipped down the hall towards the room she shared with her team. She'd had an _awesome_ conversation with General Yang and gotten a wicked-looking electric stungun in the process and now she was out of the infirmary! Yay!

Skidding to a halt, she opened the door and made a beeline for her wardrobe. Best to make sure her prize was still there.

Opening her underwear drawer, she shuffled the garments around...

And frowned as she didn't see it.

The shuffling grew steadily more and more frantic, the clothes getting thrown out of the drawer as the shard failed to reveal itself. Finally, with the drawer empty, she had to conclude that the metal shard wasn't there.

That didn't ease her growing panic in the slightest, and she began tearing through the rest of her wardrobe. It wasn't there, either, nor in her bed, and she was just debating whether to start looking in one of her teammates' wardrobes when she heard the door open behind her.

"Looking for this?" Ren said, waving the piece of metal in one hand.

"YOU WENT THROUGH MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER?" Nora screeched.

"Really, that's what offends you?" Ren scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I helped you buy half the contents. It's nothing I haven't seen before. Still, that's not the point. What matters is this."

Ren jabbed a finger at the sole bit of color on the metal, now cleaned further to reveal speed lines and a white cartoon glove.

"Tell me, whose logo does this remind of?"

"Uh… I-I don't recognize it at all," Nora stammered, sweat starting to bead on her forehead.

"Really, despite it being on every pair of underwear you've brought for the past five years?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, it's the Dust Devil's logo!" Nora snapped. "That Bullhead must have been stolen or something!"

"Perhaps," Ren conceded. "Though if all of those Bullheads were stolen from the Dust Devils I have serious doubts about their competence. Still better than the idea that the Dust Devils are somehow aligned with the White Fang." Ren stared pointedly at Nora, causing her to fidget slightly. "Which begs the question of why you had to hide this thing, if you think the Bullhead was simply stolen?"

"Shut up…"

"That leads me to think you're as suspicious of them as I am," Ren continued. "You don't like Yang as much as you act like you do, you're just overcompensating for-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Nora howled as she suddenly dashed forward and punched Ren in the jaw. Aura took the blow, but the momentum transfer still knocked him flat on his ass. Panting, she stared down at his shocked face, her own expression one of burning fury. Finally, she shook her head in disgust and ran out the door.

"Nora, wait!" Ren called out, scrambling to his feet and reaching for her. But she knocked his hand away with a tear-filled, angry glare that stopped Ren dead in his tracks. Turning away, she stalked off down the corridor, steadfastly refusing to look at him. Ren, for his part, didn't follow.

He was still standing there, staring off into the distance, when Jaune and Pyrrha arrived back at the dorm.

"Uh, Ren?" Jaune asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

"No, Jaune," Ren stated in a monotone. He slowly turned around and started to aimlessly shamble off. "No, I'm not."

Pyrrha and Jaune glanced at each other, and Pyrrha jerked her head inside, prompting Jaune to grab his shoulders and gently steer him into the room.

"And if you think I'm gonna let you wander around in that state, you've got another thing coming," Jaune declared as they stepped into the room. "Pyrrha, could you get some tea going? I think he needs it."

"Got it," Pyrrha replied, searching for the teapot and teabags.

"Gotta find Nora," Ren weakly protested, trying to push Jaune off of him.

"Nuh-uh, you're staying here until we figure out what happened and how we're gonna fix this," Jaune countered. The blonde pressed down on Ren's shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. "Remember: we're a team. You don't have to do this all by yourself."

Ren was silent for a second, before nodding. "Okay. And Jaune? Thank you."

"Hey, no problem!" Jaune replied sunnily. "We'll work this out."

Once Ren wasn't looking, Pyrrha and Jaune glanced at each other nervously, an unsaid ' _I hope_ ' passing between them.

~o~

"Where is she?" Coco growled, pacing back and forth on the gym floor. Her outfit, a mix of brown, white, and black, with a long-and-poofy-sleeve white shirt under a longer strapless dress, was distinctly old-fashioned, but it looked nice and stood out from the more modern garments all the other girls were wearing. "It's been half an hour since the start of the dance and she's still not here!"

"Why do you expect me to know anything?" Fox said, one eyebrow quirked. "I know exactly as much as you do."

"Rhetorical question, dammit!" the fashionista snapped before resuming her pacing. Unconsciously, her right thumb began to drift up to her mouth, though Coco noticed and slapped down the offending limb before she could start nibbling on the nail.

"Is it just me," Fox muttered to Yatsuhashi out of the corner of his mouth. "Or does this remind you of that caged Boarbatusk Professor Port brought in way back when?"

"Mm. Could be worse," the taller man rumbled.

*SPLASH!*

The two Huntsmen-in-training turned to see Jaune pulling Ren's head out of one of the punch bowls, looking equal parts resigned and frantic. Pyrrha, on the meantime, was chasing after a... 'fuming' - though 'about to erupt' would probably be more accurate - Nora as politely and with as much decorum as possible.

"Could be that," Yatsuhashi finished.

Fox sighed ruefully and shook his head. "What happened after we left them?" he wondered. "He and Valkyrie were practically joined at the hip all semester and now Nora's trying to drown Ren in the punch and Ren looked like he was about two seconds away from letting her."

"Yup," Yatsuhashi drawled. For a few minutes, the two simply stood there, taking in the party.

Aside from Coco and the unhappy couple of JNPR, everything was going swimmingly. The decorators Cinder Fall had called had done an excellent job with the decorations, with everything from the streamers to the tables looking a cut above the usual school fare. The DJ duo were pumping out some of the best electronic music Fox had ever heard, though the robot helmets were somewhat offputting. The result was a very lively, active party, with even the soldiers guarding Penny tapping along to the beat.

The moment was broken by Yatsuhashi's Scroll vibrating. The swordsman pulled it out, and actually opened his eyes a little at the message.

"Is that from Velvet?" Fox asked.

"Yes," Yatsuhashi replied, slipping the Scroll back into his pocket. "She wants me to meet her outside."

"Heh, probably needs that last push," Fox chuckled before slapping his teammate on the back. "You go get her butt in gear, I'll-"

"GAH!"

Coco's screech was accompanied by cracking concrete, presumably due to her throwing her hat as hard as she could at the nearest wall.

"Go make sure our fearless leader doesn't accidentally murder somebody," Fox finished with a sigh. Yatsuhashi nodded in sympathy, and the two parted ways.

The dark-skinned young man slowly crept up on Coco before stopping just out of arm's reach and announcing his presence. "You done trying to kill anybody?"

Coco whirled around, looking ready to spit fire - and then froze in numb shock. "Fox…" she managed to force out. "What in the name of Remnant are you _wearing_?"

Fox glanced down at the garishly purple suit he was wearing, with the equally purple tie and fluorescent orange shirt. "I'm wearing my usual formalwear."

"I refuse to believe that purple and orange… _monstrosity_ constitutes your usual formalwear," Coco spat, her voice regaining its prior heat.

"Aw, shit, really?" Fox lied. "I thought I was wearing my usual suit!"

All the anger in Coco's posture and words melted away, leaving her looking tired and defeated. "Just… I don't even care anymore," Coco sighed. "Just don't make me look at that… _thing_ that you're wearing."

Fox frowned, and mentally decided to drop the snarkiness. At least for a little while.

"Does Velvet coming to the dance really mean that much to you?" he asked softly.

"It's… I don't… yes," Coco finally said. "And the worst part is, I'm not even sure why this is tearing me up so badly! I mean, my head says that I never invited her or anything, that her being late doesn't mean anything, but my heart is being a stupid motherfucker and _not listening!_ "

Those last words were shouted at her chest, which brought more than a few stares. Coco flushed under the attention, but hastily recovered and shot back a glare that was vicious enough to curdle milk. "The hell are you all looking at?" Everyone hastily looked away. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Wow," Fox chuckled. "You've really got it bad." At Coco's surprised and rather mortified look, he smirked. "What? You think because I tease you about it I didn't notice? I tease you about it because I _did_ notice and it gets the best reactions! And, and!" he hastily tacked on when Coco grabbed him by the front of his tux and hauled him a foot off the ground. "Because I really like you guys and I hoped that if I pushed it enough one of you would finally snap and you'd pounce on one another in a haze of- _I mean!"_ he amended as Coco's other hand formed a fist and was hauled back. "Y-you'd finally confess, you'd finally _say something_ to each other instead of pussyfooting around the freaking _Goliath_ in the room! It, ah... hasn't worked so far though. Don't kill me?"

Coco simply chose to keep glaring at him with her fist cocked, at least until someone in the crowd decided to butt in.

"Aw, come on! I wanna see him get punched!"

"Oh, piss off!" Coco snapped, before sighing and letting him down. Fox, for his part, hastily unruffled the section of suit his leader had grabbed.

"It's… I hoped…" Coco stammered for a moment before sighing and bringing her palm to her face. "I... guess I just wanted Velvet to be here because I wanted tonight to... to be the night." The fashionista sighed again. "It's silly and cliche, I know, but-"

"Actually," Fox cut in, looking over Coco's left shoulder. "I don't think it's as silly as you think it is."

Puzzled, Coco turned around - and found herself at a loss for words.

"I'm gonna go check up on Yatsu and leave you two to it, okay?" Fox grinned, slinking off into the crowd.

Coco barely even noticed as her teammate left, so engrossed was she with the sight before her. "V-Velvet?" she breathed softly.

"H-hi, Coco," Velvet stammered shyly. Indeed, it was the rabbit faunus, but not like Coco had ever seen her before. Namely, wearing an immaculate tuxedo, her brown hair tied up in a ponytail in the back, and a luminescent blush painting her cheeks.

"W-would you..." Velvet started to stammer out before swallowing heavily. "Would you... c-care to dance with me?"

Coco stared at Velvet in awe for a moment, mind stalling furiously as she tried to connect what she was seeing with her sense of reality. Finally, however... she snorted. She snorted, she shook... and finally she burst out laughing. Coco doubled over as she _howled_ with laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks as she hiccupped and giggled euphorically.

Velvet's blush died into a dull gray as her ears sank low on her head. The poor girl _withered_ at the laughter, shrinking in on herself miserably. She slowly started to turn away from her leader. "I-I'm sorry... I... t-this was _stupid,_ I'll just-!"

She was halted by a hand grabbing her wrist.

"No. Don't. Stay... please."

Velvet slowly turned back to look at Coco, who was hiccuping and rubbing at her cheeks with a goofy grin.

"I-I'm sorry..." Coco managed to work out. "N- _not_ for laughing... f-for the most part. S-some of that was directed at you because for Pete's sake you look absolutely _precious_ in that suit, I swear to Remnant... But ah... no, no. A lot of that laughter is... it's directed at myself, I'm laughing at me, and I'm apologizing for _me."_

Velvet blinked in confusion as she tried to process what she was hearing. "I, uh... w-what? W-what are you apologizing for?"

"For... basically all of this," Coco said, gesturing in Velvet's general direction. "For putting you through... so much. I'm sorry that I didn't have the courage to put on that suit, I'm sorry I didn't ask you first, I'm sorry for making you be the one to do it all, when _I'm_ supposed to be the strong one... I'm sorry, Velvet, I'm so, _so_ sorry for everything. And... I realize that this might be too little too late, I realize that I've been a blind, stupid, _inconsiderate_ coward, but..." Coco slowly reached up and slid her glasses off, showing her eyes to be positively brimming with tears. "If you could find it in your heart... to forgive me for all of it... for everything I've put you through... then I would be the happiest person alive. So... what do you say? Are you willing to give this coward a shot?"

For a moment, Velvet just stood there in open-mouthed amazement. Finally, though, she closed her mouth and gave Coco a wobbly smile. "Yes," she breathed, taking Coco's hand. She slowly raised it to her cheek and leaned into it, nuzzling it dearly and wiping her tears against it. "Yes, yes, of course I will. How could you ever think otherwise? I could never say no, especially..." She sniffed happily. "Especially to the girl I've loved since the day I met her."

Coco hiccuped joyously and made to say something, but was... rudely interrupted.

"Ergh, would you dykes hurry up and just-!" _THWACK!_ "-AGHK!"

Most attention in the room snapped over to where Cardin Winchester was laying curled up on the ground in pain while Goodwitch stood over him imperiously, tapping her riding crop in her hand with a disappointed tsk.

"Honestly now, Mr. Winchester," Goodwitch scolded flatly. "Failing to wear a cup at all times is a mistake I would expect from a student of _Signal_ Academy, certainly not one of my own. That will be detention for the rest of the year, I'm afraid. And as for you, Miss Adel!" She snapped her gaze over to the fashionista, who hastily sprung to attention.

"Y-yes ma'am!" she stammered hastily.

Goodwitch cocked an eyebrow expectantly. "Shouldn't you be finalizing matters?"

"Uh... yes ma'am?"

"Then I do believe you should get on with it, hm?"

Coco blinked in surprise before hastily snapping out another salute. "Right away, ma'am!"

Velvet blinked in confusion. "Wait, wha-"

That was as far as she got before Coco grabbed her by the waist and pressed her lips against hers. For a moment, a stunned Velvet let her leader press her down, before she grabbed Coco herself and began kissing back in earnest. The rest of the world - in particular, the cheers of the students around them - melted away. All she knew was herself, Coco, and their bodies and lips pressing together.

Finally, they broke away, blushing but happy. Velvet dipped into a shallow bow, and held out her hand to Coco, who immediately took it. The new couple walked out onto the dance floor, and began to lose themselves in a different couples' activity: a slow ballroom dance, one pair of arms around each others' waist and the other pair clasped together. Slowly, the two lost themselves to the music and each other, swaying in time to the beat. Nothing else existed for them.

~o~

"So? What's going on?" Fox asked as he swooped down next to Yatsuhashi.

His larger teammate had not been outside the gym where he had met with Velvet, and by the time Fox caught up, the two were almost near the CCT tower. Another surprise had been Yatsu's massive sword slung over his back, the rocket locker embedded in the concrete nearby telling him how he'd gotten it so quickly. Naturally, as Yatsuhashi explained what was going on, Fox ordered his locker delivered as well.

"I saw someone traversing the rooftops," Yatsuhashi stated, gazing up at the CCT tower. "A she, I believe. With Velvet on her way, I elected to follow her, and she entered the tower."

"Considering it's closed for the night... and none of the guards have raised any alarms," Fox added as his locker landed and he began to retrieve his weapons. "I agree, that smells fishier than the harbor market."

Yatsuhashi merely nodded as Fox finished equipping himself.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Fox asked cheekily. "Let's go!"

And with that, the two marched into the tower.

~o~

Neopolitan smirked to herself as she let the thumb drive deliver its payload into the CCT's main computer systems. Honestly, for such a critical linchpin of civilization, the tower was embarrassingly insecure. Getting in had been a simple matter of reaching one of the high windows and carefully popping it open; security was apparently focused on the ground and top floors.

The computer terminal she'd plugged the thumb drive into dinged softly, and she pulled it out and pocketed it. Time to make her escape before someone-

The currently black-haired woman resisted the urge to sigh as she heard the elevator approach the floor she was on. Of course it couldn't be that simple. Neo slunk over to one of the corners of the room and draped one of her trademark illusions over it. Anyone walking in would see only wall.

The elevator door dinged, and two very familiar faces walked in. Yatsuhashi Daichi and Fox Alistair swept their gazes across the room, and Neo felt her breath hitch as Fox's sightless eyes zeroed in on her position. Right, blind. Ah well. She dropped the illusion, presenting her domino mask, full-body black catsuit, and coy smile.

Fox promptly charged in, punching straight at her. Neo waited until the strike was bare inches from her face before deftly sidestepping the attack. Plucking her parasol off her back, she hooked the handle into Fox's leg and pulled, dropping him straight on his face.

The next attack came from Yatsuhashi, his sword coming down in a two-handed chop. That too was dodged with a neat twirl that left her facing the much larger man. Her parasol went up, blooming in his face and blocking his view. To her consternation, though, his stance remained as solid as a mountain, with no points of leverage.

Unfortunately, she had no time to find any as Fox took another swipe at her. She ducked to her right, closing her parasol, and turned the movement into a cartwheel that allowed her to slam the side of her foot into his chin. Landing on her feet, she was forced to dive over Yatsuhashi's sword and roll away, at which point Fox was on her again.

No rhythm, no illusions, no openings on the big one- Neo was loathe to admit it, but she'd need help for this. Help she signaled for by swiping one hand down to her side so as to activate her pager before going back to the fight.

~o~

Cinder clapped politely as Coco took Velvet's hand and led her onto the dance floor. It warmed the cockles of her heart to see young love like that.

Wait, no, that was her pager buzzing. Thank the heavens for that, for a moment there she was afraid she might have been going soft.

Surreptitiously stepping back into the crowd, Cinder fished the device out of her pocket and frowned as she saw who it was from. While not Emerald or Torchwick, Neo was still a member of the Commission's inner circle, and thus a very solid thief and capable combatant in her own right. More importantly, she knew she was good, and proud of it. For her to be asking for help…

Well. Now she was genuinely glad for the new couple, for they were a most excellent distraction. It was simplicity itself for her to signal Miss Schnee before slipping out of the crowd and make her way outside.

Quickly ducking into a nearby building, she changed out of her dress and into a black catsuit and domino mask similar to Neo's, only her's bared her arms. Regardless, now disguised, she jumped up onto the roofs, switched her blades into bow form, and sighted up into the CCT tower where the fight was still going on.

~o~

Fox jabbed and crossed at the intruder, who to his continued annoyance continued to practically _slide_ around his blows. Finally, he overextended a bit on one jab, and he felt an elbow slam into his gut just as a foot impacted his shin, with the result that his face slammed into the floor. Again.

Which was fine, as Yatsuhashi came in, sword swinging. The black-haired woman dodged it, of course, but she didn't even bother trying to attack.

This was the pattern that had been established. Fox would get her attention, eat a counter, and then Yatsuhashi would get them a little breathing room. Why she didn't attack Yatsu was beyond him, but he was not complaining. One-on-one, Fox knew he'd probably have lost five minutes ago.

"Okay, where the hell are those guards?" Fox grumbled.

"They'll be here," Yatsuhashi rumbled. "We likely only need to last a few more minutes."

"Okay," Fox breathed as he checked his aura levels. "Okay, I think we can do that."

Naturally, it was at that point that an obsidian arrow crashed through the window and landed at their feet, a bright red-and-yellow glyph popping up on the floor. The two students only had a brief moment to react before the glyph exploded.

Fox staggered back as the flames scorched at his Aura. Between the smoke, heat, and noise of the explosion, he didn't notice Neopolitan until she was up in his face.

' _Aw, shi-'_

Neo's booted foot slammed into his chin with far more force than any of her previous blows. His Aura, depleted by the previous fighting and the explosion, gave out as he rocketed upwards and bounced off the ceiling, before falling to the ground in a heap.

Neo turned, smirking, towards Yatsuhashi, who was charging for her, sword raised. However, when the blow landed it merely shattered an illusion. The Huntsman scanned the room, but the diminutive thief was nowhere in sight.

~o~

Cinder smirked as she dismissed her bow. That should have been enough for Neo to get away. In all honesty, she would have to see about thanking the... assassin? Illusionist? Whatever. She'd get her something nice later. After all, it was nice to be challenged every once in awhile, and sniping the top of the CCT Tower with nothing to rely on but instincts and aura? Truly a challenge indeed.

Now all she had to do was slip back into her dress and sneak back into the dance and she'd be-

Cinder stiffened as cold metal tapped against the back of her neck.

"Don't move."

Okay, so her situational awareness _might_ have needed some work…

"Stand up. Slowly. And keep your hands where I can see them," Lie Ren said.

Cinder did so, mind whirling. The gun trained on her wasn't the worry; Aura was nice like that. No, the real issue was him raising the alarm and bringing help. Still, best to be compliant for now. She just hoped that she managed to find a way to escape before her mask was removed. If her face was known to the public, then her neck was as good as slit. No doubt by Miss Schnee herself, even.

"Turn around. Let me see your-"

THUNK!

"-agh!"

The pressure of the gun vanished, prompting Cinder to spin around and materialize her bow with an arrow nocked and drawn. Ren was nowhere to be seen, but a sheepish Penny was.

"Sorry, Ms. Fall," Penny apologized, giving a shallow bow. "I didn't notice that he was tailing you until he was almost on your position."

"It's quite alright, dear," Cinder replied. "I am ashamed to admit that I didn't see him coming myself."

Penny opened her mouth to respond, only to close it as the sound of sirens began to doppler towards them. "I think we should probably get back to the dance now," the gynoid suggested, before turning around to find Cinder already gone.

"Oh," she blinked in surprise before shrugging and jumping down from the building herself.

~o~

Weiss sipped a cup of punch as she leaned against one wall of the gym. School dances had never been a pleasant activity for her, in large part due to the fact that none of the students could dance worth a lick. Well, compared to her, at least. From the looks of things, that hadn't changed.

"Woo hoo!" Yang announced as she sashayed up to Weiss wearing a lampshade - where'd she even gotten that? - as a hat. "Ah, man, I love this party!"

"You love all parties," Weiss deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

"Guilty," Yang admitted without a trace of shame. "But seriously, you should go out and enjoy this a little more."

"Is there a point to this," Weiss said frostily. "Or are you just here to badger me?"

"Wellll," Yang drew out. "I _was_ wondering why your secretary was slipping out in the middle of the dance."

"The usual troubleshooting stuff," Weiss replied, taking a sip of her punch. "You know how it is with festivals like this. There's always something coming up."

 _There was an issue with the break-in._

Yang frowned slightly. "Well, geez, I hope it's not serious. Does she need any extra manpower?"

 _Do I need to level anything?_

"No, no, it's not that bad," Weiss said dismissively. "Cinder would tell me if she needed assistance."

 _I hope._

"KYAAAAAAAA!"

Both Yang and Weiss turned towards the source of the scream, but otherwise didn't react as the crowd began to press towards the doors.

"Huh, wonder what's going on," Yang mused.

"Oh, go check it out," Weiss said, waving her hand. "I know you want to go rubberneck."

~o~

Jaune sighed as he watched the paramedics cart off Ren, Nora following like a wounded puppy.

"I hope he's alright," Jaune said, concern tinging his voice.

"He'll be fine," Pyrrha reassured him. "Trust me, I know injuries, and his isn't bad at all."

"Well, in that case, I'd like to wish him a quick recovery."

Jaune and Pyrrha turned around to see two teens only slightly older than their own age. The guy had messy gray hair and a nonchalant stance, while the girl had sea-green hair and dark skin, and looked distinctly grumpy as she swirled the punch-filled cup she was holding. And both carried themselves like Huntsmen.

"I'm Mercury Black, and Miss Grumpypants over here is Emerald Sustrai," the gray-haired teen said, jabbing his thumb back at his companion.

"Fuck you, Mercury."

"Sorry, it's that time of month for her."

" _Fuck you_ , Mercury."

"Anyway," Mercury continued as if the previous exchange hadn't happened. "Just wanted to say hi. Probably our last chance before the tournament actually starts. Good luck out there, all of you."

"Uh, thanks?" Jaune replied. "Good luck to you, too."

"Hey, it's you!"

Mercury, Jaune, and Pyrrha turned around to see Sun pointing at Emerald, and actually wearing his suit, though the bowtie was notable in its absence.

"That was a mean trick you pulled," Sun accused, though without any heat. "Most other guys would be put off by that kind of stuff, but me? I find crime sexy."

"You know this guy?" Mercury whispered to Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Yes, he's a friend," Pyrrha replied. "Why?"

"Well, since he's about to crash and burn…"

"So, can I still get that number?" Sun asked, flashing a shiny grin.

Emerald's grumpy expression slowly shifted into a more contemplative look as she gave Sun a once-over. "Even after I pick-pocketed you and gave you a number that led you to the, and I quote, 'Rejection Hotline'?"

Sun's grin widened slightly. "I'm committed like that."

Emerald slowly adopted a saucy grin as she sauntered up to the faunus, trailing her hand over his chest appreciatively. "Yes, yes you are. And you know what? I'd say that kind of commitment deserves to be..." Her hand slowly started to drop towards Sun's pants. " _Rewarded."_

Jaune blinked in shock and awe at the display before him. "I-Is she serious?"

"Wait for it..." Mercury deadpanned.

The grin never left Emerald's face as she grabbed the front of Sun's belt, yanked his waistband open and poured her drink down his crotch. "Get lost," she chirped pleasantly before wheeling around and stalking off.

"There it is."

Sun blinked numbly as he watched Emerald leave before shooting a hopeful grin at Mercury. "That means she digs me, right?"

"Eh..." Mercury waved his hand side-to-side. "More along the lines of 'eat shit, puke, choke on it and die', but close enough."

"I like those odds!" Sun proclaimed proudly.

"Did I mention that she's hot as a furnace for our superior who's not only older and classy as fuck but also a woman?" Mercury questioned innocently.

"Okay, those odds? Not so much," Sun groaned as he drooped forwards miserably.

"There there..." Neptune rolled his eyes with a sigh as he patted his friend's back reassuringly.

"Anyway, as much fun as it is to see you get shot down, I need to go follow her and make sure she doesn't murder our other teammates," Mercury said before trotting off after Emerald. "See ya!"

"Well, I think I'll just be the first to say it: tonight has been an unmitigated disaster," Jaune sighed, throwing his hands up as Mercury disappeared out the gym doors.

"Mm, I don't know about that," Pyrrha said, leaning in close to Jaune. "I'm fairly certain that _some_ parts have been quite positive."

Jaune paused as he considered that before shrugging reluctantly. "Well... alright, you've got me there. I guess Coco and Velvet finally getting together _was_ nice."

Pyrrha chuckled brightly. "Among other things, I suppose. Well, I'm feeling tired, so I think I'm going to head back to our room for now."

"Oh, yeah, sure, alri-!" Jaune's words trailed off into nothingness as Pyrrha kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you for coming with me tonight, Jaune, it's been wonderful."

"I-I, uh… warglblargl…"

Pyrrha tittered softly before turning and walking back towards the dorms. "I'll see you there, Jaune!"

The blond stared after her for a minute or so before adopting a contemplative look. "Hey, guys," he said slowly to Sun and Neptune. "I think Pyrrha likes me. Like, like likes me."

The two Mistral students glanced at each other before sighing and simultaneously smacking Jaune upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Have we finally managed to get through your two-foot thick titanium-plated skull, or do we need to do that again?" Sun questioned flatly.

"Ah, no, no, I'm good..." Jaune waved them off as he held his throbbing head.

"Good," Neptune nodded before he and Sun doubled over, clutching their hands in agony. "Because _ow!_ Holy mother of Grimm, what the hell is your head made of!?"

"I think I broke half the bones in this thing..." Sun moaned.

~o~

Consciousness returned slowly to Ren, blinking slowly as his brain rebooted from the hard reset it'd just gotten. Blinking again, he tried to lift up a hand to clear the crust he could feel on his eyes, and felt a brief twinge of panic when his arm didn't move. Panic that quickly subsided as pink filled his vision.

"Hello, Nora," he said softly.

"You're awake!" she shrieked, quickly shifting her grip to wrap him up in a tight bear hug. "When-you-fell-off-that-building-and-made-that-thump-like-a-steak-hitting-the-floor-I-thought-you-might-be-dead-or-brain-dead-or-worse-and-I-didn't-know-what-to-do-so-I-just-watched-as-everyone-ran-out-and-Jaune-called-the-paramedics-and-!"

"Can't… breathe…" Ren wheezed.

"Oh!" Nora exclaimed, hastily letting go of him. "Sorry." Sitting back on the bed Ren was lying in, she looked away and poked her fingers together. "Are you still mad at me?"

Ren just gave her a pointed _look_.

"Oh, right, I was the one who was mad. Heh heh…" the orange-haired girl trailed off awkwardly.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two, neither really knowing what to say. Finally, Nora broke the quiet.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Or, at least, I shouldn't have hit you."

"I'm sorry, too," Ren replied. "You were right, I was getting snippy. I just… I just don't understand why you practically worship the ground she walks on."

There was no need to specify which "she" he was talking about, and Nora was silent for a moment as she mulled over her response.

"Do you remember? Back when our village was attacked?" she asked, barely concealed pain in her voice.

"I… try not to," Ren said slowly. "But yes, I do remember."

"Then you have to remember who it was that saved us, saved the village," Nora replied with a little more heat. "The Dust Devils saved us, _Yang_ saved us. How can you _not_ appreciate everything they've done for us, for everyone else? How... how can you not all but _worship_ someone in that situation? Someone so great and nice and... and _worthy_ of it?" The hammer wielder blushed slightly. "Doesn't hurt that she's really, really cool in general."

"I do appreciate what the good general did for us. But… I just can't respect General Xiao Long. I want to be strong for myself, and for you, not for fame and money like she does." He sighed explosively. "And… I think I was jealous. I'm so used to your attention that the idea of not having it felt…" He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"You silly goose," Nora chuckled, reaching forward to boop Ren's nose. "I'm never going to leave you. You're gonna be stuck with me until the day the universe burns out."

"Isn't that usually 'Until the day you die?'" Ren asked, smiling.

"Eh, that's not long enough," Nora replied. "We good?"

"If you promise to tone down the hero-worship a little," Ren offered.

"Only if you promise to actually talk about this when it gets to you," Nora counter-offered.

"Deal." Grinning, the two spat in their palms and shook hands.

"So," Nora asked once they got the chance to wipe off the spit. "What were you doing out there, anyway?"

"That's something we'd like to know as well," General Ironwood cut in, flanked by Glynda and Ozpin.

~o~

"So. Alistair and Daichi spot someone moving over the rooftops and meet her in the main computer room of the CCT tower. Someone with an _illusion Semblance_ , of all things. They fight for several minutes before a _second_ infiltrator attacks them and allows the first to escape, having already done what she needed to do.

"Lie, meanwhile, corners the second attacker before being ambushed by a _third_ attacker, both of whom vanish before anyone can respond.

"As for their objective, we're still cleaning out the computer systems of all the viruses and surveillance programs. My technicians hope to get them all removed by the end of the week, but we may have to shut down the tower - and thus the whole network - while they clean out one particular program that could crash the entire thing." General Ironwood sighed and shook his head. "I still don't know why they decided to put that little feature in the design."

"Well, at least there is a silver lining here," Ozpin said calmly, taking a sip of his coffee.

Only considerable experience with the enigmatic man kept Ironwood and Glynda from staring openly at him. "And that would be…?" Glynda asked expectantly.

"That the Dust Devils are not as perfect as they like to say they are." At the disgruntled looks the two gave him, Ozpin just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that's all I could think of. In any case, do we have any clues as to who is behind this?"

"I am almost certain that it is the same group backing the White Fang and Crimson Thorns," Ironwood answered. "First, disrupting communications is exactly the sort of thing the White Fang needs to pull of a large-scale attack. Second, the resources needed to develop programs of this sophistication, and so many of them, is beyond either group, and beyond most independent hacker groups as well."

"Which means that, for all practical purposes, we are still exactly where we were before this incident, save with several dozen viruses infecting our communications infrastructure," Glynda sighed.

"You are certain your technicians have identified all the malignant software?" Ozpin confirmed.

"As sure as we can be," Ironwood said.

"Which begs the question of what the point of all this was," Glynda demanded in frustration. "They had to know we'd find and remove what they'd entered."

From the students' testimony, they likely did not expect to actually get caught in the act," Ironwood countered. "In which case we'd likely not have noticed until it was too late. Or, we would have overlooked one or more of the more subtle programs."

"That will have to do, then," Ozpin sighed. "Until we get more information, speculating further would be pointless."

Nodding, Ironwood and Glynda turned and entered the elevator. Ozpin watched them go before standing up and walking to the window, gazing out towards the woods, and the Grimm that infested them.

"What am I missing…?" he wondered, before narrowing his eyes in the distance. A small black speck was moving across the sky, occasionally blotting out a star. "Hmm. The Grimm are active tonight."

~o~

"So, Qrow's coming here?" Blake confirmed, pausing as Crescent Rose rang out and gibbed another Beowolf. "Can't we, I don't know, stop him from getting here?"

"Short of the two of us going out to actually kill him ourselves, no," Ruby replied, scanning the trees for more Grimm.

"Then what are we going to do?"

Ruby hefted Crescent Rose up, leaning its massive girth on a nearby branch as she looked through its scope. "Well, I'd say we go out there, track him down, and kill him ourselves..." She squeezed the trigger, blasting apart a tree mere inches to the side of a Beowolf and sending it into a frenzy. "But honestly, Qrow's a way better woodsman than us. I'd rather not risk him getting around us and tearing apart our operation. We know where he's going. Either he gets there too late, or he gets there early."

"And if he gets there early?"

" _Then_ we kill him ourselves."

"Pretty simple plan," Blake mused, idly shooting a few raven-sized Nevermores as she strolled along the branches, dodging out of the way of their feathers as she went. "I like it. So, how are we doing this? Do we do it together, all four of us, or would it just be me and you?"

"Oh, ah, by 'we', I mean 'me and Yang'," Ruby clarified uncomfortably. Well, as uncomfortably as a person could be when they were deliberately aiming to injure and enrage packs of wild, bloodthirsty monstrosities instead of out and out killing them. "He's our uncle, it's our job to stop him."

"And Yang is just going to drop everything the second you text her," Blake drawled.

"You think she won't?"

"... Point."

"Also, because we're family, Qrow won't be as likely to try and kill us right off the bat, which gives her time to actually get to me," Ruby reasoned. "I hope. C'mon, you of all people should know how hard it is to fight non-lethally at this level!"

Blake let out a derisive snort at that. "He can't be that bad to fight." She promptly stepped back and flattened her ears at the glare Ruby shot her way. "But it can't hurt to be prepared, I suppose!"

"That's what I thought," Ruby nodded. A Creeper burst out of the nearby foliage, slavering jaws reaching for Ruby, who idly batted it away with Crescent Rose. "Of course, we've only got a week before we need to initiate the plan, and Qrow's still a ways away, so hopefully we can put off fighting him until we can set up a more favorable battlefield."

"A week, huh?" Blake breathed, looking up into the sky. "It's happening, it's really happening. After this… there'll be no turning back."

"Yup…" Ruby agreed as she joined Blake in looking up at the sky. "All these years waiting, and suddenly it feels like it's too soon."

The snapping of tree trunks sounded out through the forest, and both Ruby and Blake whirled around to see a house-sized Ursa tearing through the woods. Around its feet swarmed Beowolves, Creepers, Taijitus, Scorpios, and more Ursae. Above, a half-dozen giant Nevermores circled.

"Well, I think we've gotten their attention," Ruby casually remarked. "Remind me what step two was, again?"

Ruby looked to the side to see a black shadow clone dissipate into the air. "Oh, right," she chuckled, before vanishing in a blur of rose petals herself.

As one, the Grimm roared and gave pursuit, trampling everything in their paths as they followed the scents of their aggressors.

Followed them straight towards an innocuous, long-abandoned human settlement.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **AN: In case you're wondering why the text changed, from feedback on the Sufficient Velocity forums I did some revising of the latter half of the chapter. Enjoy!**

"Well," Yatsuhashi said as Ozpin finished his speech. "That speech was certainly more ominous than the one he gave our year."

"Why, what did he say then?" Ren asked as the crowd dispersed, students heading to the screens at the back to pick their missions.

"Oh, y'know, usual bullshit about being 'protectors of humanity', how we should give our best first impressions, blah blah blah," Fox summarized dismissively. "This plea for unity? That's different. And ominous, like Yatsu said. Anyway, good luck with your first mission, okay?"

The members of Team JNPR shared a wary glance. "That's it?" Nora demanded. "No smart remarks, no condescension, just a plain old vanilla 'good luck'?"

"Do you _want_ smart remarks and condescension?" Fox asked quizzically, one eyebrow raised. "Because I can provide that if you want."

"We're good, thanks," Jaune hastily replied before Nora could. "But seriously, do you have any advice?"

"Listen to the Huntsman in charge," Yatsuhashi replied.

"Unless he's drunk right off his ass," Fox amended. "Our guy had skills for someone who had more booze in his veins than blood, but still. We nearly died at least three times because of that."

"Riiiight," Jaune drew out. "We'll… keep that in mind."

"Anyway, we need to get back to the dorms before Coco rips her hair out over that contract Schnee gave her," Fox said, turning around and waving. "Good luck!"

Yatsuhashi nodded, before following Fox out of the room.

"Okay… So, which mission should we take?" Jaune said, scanning over the small windows. "We can help build houses, guard a train… Oh, could be deputies! That sounds-"

"This one."

Jaune glanced over to the window Ren was pointing at. The short blurb at the bottom stated it was a short stint as guards for a village on the outskirts of the kingdom. "You sure?"

"Positive," Ren stated firmly.

"Well, alright then. I don't see any problems, so we can- Oof!"

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Nora cried out as she tackle-glomped her leader, knocking him to the ground.

"Nora, off," Ren ordered. The orange haired girl promptly sprung to her feet, snapping a salute to Ren. "Good girl. And Jaune?"

The green-clad young man shot his leader a warm smile. "Thanks."

"Uh, no problem," Jaune replied, pulling himself to his feet and tapping the accept button. The computer immediately flashed a small notice on the screen. "Uh, looks like we have half an hour before we need to meet our guy on the airship docks."

"Good," Pyrrha cut in, smiling beatifically. "Then we have time for you to tell us why you're so interested in that specific mission."

Ren and Nora traded nervous glances as the team started walking to the airship docks with their packs. "So…" Nora began, pointedly looking away from her teammates. "Did we ever mention that we're orphans?"

Jaune jerked in shock, but hastily adopted a casual expression. "You… might have mentioned it once or twice…" he started to hedge, only for Pyrrha to jab her elbow into his ribs. "Or maybe never?"

"Not surprised. It's not a happy tale," Ren sighed. "It's not a particularly notable one, either. We lived in a village outside of the walls, and things were fine until the inevitable happened."

"Grimm?" Pyrrha ventured.

"Grimm," Ren confirmed, his voice conspicuously matter-of-fact. "Lots of them. Some of the villagers could fight, but they were never good enough to do more than kill the occasional Beowolf that wandered into our fields. Naturally, the village was overrun."

"Well, until General Yang and the Dust Devils came in and wiped them all out!" Nora added eagerly, before practically deflating. "They just… didn't get there in time to save our parents."

"And… the village in the mission is the your hometown?" Pyrrha ventured again.

"Yes." Ren's fists clenched at his sides. "And this time, we will protect it."

"That's the spirit," Jaune said, slapping Ren on the back. "Now come on, let's go meet the guy we're shadowing."

~o~

"Hohoho!" Peter Port chuckled. "Greetings, students! Who's ready to act as a poor helpless village's last line of defense against complete and utter annihilation?"

Team JNPR stood, staring, in silence for a minute before Nora threw up her fists. "Yes! I'm always ready!"

"That's the spirit!" Port boisterously replied.

"Oh my lord there's two of them," Pyrrha breathed as Port and Nora laughed together.

"I didn't realize just how similar those two are," Jaune groaned miserably.

"I did," Ren said morosely. "I just forgot."

"Why would you forget something like that?"

"So I can sleep at night."

Jaune looked at Nora and Port climbing into the Bullhead, still chattering away like a couple of old friends. "Yeah, I see your point."

Slowly, and with great care, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren joined their two teammates, one permanent and one temporary, in the Bullhead. The two continued to babble as the tiltjet took off, and the rest were all too happy to let them continue.

Finally, after at least a few hours, the stream of blather started slowing down, allowing Pyrrha to actually get a word in edgewise.

"So, professor, why are you taking this mission?" she hastily asked before Nora could continue.

"The mission briefing made mention of an unusual Grimm," Port answered. "And you know me, always eager to meet new Grimm."

"And then kill them?" Nora eagerly added.

"Quite right, Miss Valkyrie!"

"A-And what about your classes?" Jaune cut in to head off the new exchange at the pass.

"Don't worry, I called an old friend of mine from the Army. He'll make a fine substitute!"

~o~

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, LISTEN UP! I AM SENIOR GUNNERY SERGEANT HARTMAN, YOUR SUBSTITUTE TEACHER FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. FROM THIS MOMENT FORTH,

YOU WILL SPEAK ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO, YOU WILL MOVE HOW I TELL YOU TO, AND SO HELP ME IF YOU DO NOT _BREATH_ HOW I TELL YOU TO! FURTHERMORE,

FROM THIS MOMENT ONWARDS, THE FIRST AND LAST WORDS OUT OF YOUR MOUTHS _WILL_ BE 'SIR', OR I WILL GIVE YOU A FAILING GRADE FASTER THAN A

BEOWOLF JUMPS ON A FRESH RECRUIT! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"THAT WAS BULLSHIT! SOUND OFF LIKE YOU'VE ALL ACTUALLY DROPPED A PAIR!"

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

"GOOD GOD THAT WAS ACTUALLY BETTER! WE MIGHT MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF YOU DILWEEDS YET!"

~o~

Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune all sent a silent prayer to whoever was supposed to have classes with Port for the next few days. They weren't sure why, but it just felt right.

Luckily, before Port and Nora could start their back-and-forth again, they felt the Bullhead lurch slightly and begin to descend. Standing from his seat, Port poked his head out of the side door.

"Well, looks like we're here, students!" he announced, looking somewhat more serious. "Now, when we land, follow me and pay attention to what I do. Especially you, Mr. Arc! As leader, this will be exactly the sort of thing you'll be doing after you graduate."

Jaune nodded, despite the nervous cast to his face.

"Right! Be prepared for anything!"

And with that, the Bullhead landed, and they were immediately swarmed by a pack of-

Children. Grubby, awestruck children, the oldest of whom looked no older than seven.

"Wow, Huntsmen!"

"He's so old!"

"Wow, look at that sword!"

"Naw, look at that spear!"

"Whoa, white hair!"

"Ren! Nora!"

The two in question looked up from the swarm of children to see a young, tall, black-haired woman in simple yet colorful clothing running towards them. Smiling, Ren stepped forward and wrapped her up in a deep hug.

"It's good to see you again, Mei," he said softly.

"MEI!"

Ren and Mei deftly sidestepped as Nora went in for a tackle-hug, letting her plow into the dirt. Nora, for her part, immediately leapt back up as if nothing had happened.

"My goodness, you're-" Mei frowned slightly. "Still short. Did you stop drinking milk?"

Nora didn't answer in favor of scrunching up her face and looking away.

"You did!" Mei huffed in exasperation. "I told you once, I told you a million times: drink milk if you want to grow up to be big and strong. It worked for me!"

"I grew up plenty strong…" Nora grumbled under her breath.

"Uh, Ren?" Jaune asked as he gingerly stepped around some of the children, who were busy swarming Port. "Who is this?"

"Ah, right," Ren said sheepishly. "Mei, these are my teammates, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. Jaune, Pyrrha, this is Mei Lin. She used to babysit me and Nora."

Jaune and Pyrrha gave Mei pitying looks. "You have our most sincere condolences," the redhead said.

"Aw come on, Nora's not-!"

"TEACH US!" Jaune wailed, throwing himself at the woman's feet and hugging her legs for dear life.

"I'm afraid we do not have time for that, Mr. Arc," Port countered as he lumbered up to the group, weighed down by a baker's dozen of children hanging off of him. "Miss Lin, would you be so kind as to take us to the village headman?"

"Of course, mister…?"

"Peter Port, ma'am."

"Right this way, then, Mr. Port."

As they walked through the village, Jaune and Pyrrha's heads were practically on a swivel, taking in the sights. As villages go, it was quite nice. The buildings were heavily decorated and well-maintained, the streets were clean, and children were constantly running about, happily laughing and playing. And the sizable animal population indicated significant wealth.

And yet, there were these niggling inconsistencies. The buildings looked a little too similar under their paint and hangings. The village felt a little too big for the people it held. And most importantly, they didn't see anyone over the age of thirty.

"Jeez, the Grimm really did a number on this place," Jaune muttered.

"Yes, I'm surprised the village is still viable," Pyrrha agreed. "They probably lost most of the adult population in that attack."

The two students glanced at each other, an unspoken agreement passing between them. This was why they fought: so that there would be no more villages like this.

Still, despite the clear signs of the damage the Grimm had done so many years ago, one thing was clear: this village was thriving. There was no hint of despair to be found, merely a cheerful industriousness.

As they continued walking, a particular building began to stand out from the rest of its brethren. It had a small steeple poking out from above the rooftops, and as they cleared the last houses Jaune and Pyrrha could see that it was made of stone, rather than the wood of the rest of the village. This must be the headman's office.

This conclusion was supported by Mei walking up to the front door and ringing a small bell before stepping back and waiting. It wasn't long before a bespectacled, disheveled, blond-haired young man opened the door, looking mildly frantic.

"Ah, Mei!" he said, speaking very fast. "What's going on? Has someone fallen into the well again? Have the pigs gotten loose? Have-"

"Quiet, you silly goose," Mei cooed, putting a finger to his lips. For a moment, she held the position before drawing back and indicating the group behind her. "These are the huntsmen we requested. You may recognize a couple of them."

The headman blinked, before adjusting his glasses in surprise. "My word! Ren, Nora, you've grown so much!" He blinked again, looking to Nora, who seemed to be vibrating in place with a wide grin. "Nora, are you all-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Nora squealed at a pitch not meant for human ears. "Oh my gosh! Mei, Mikkol, you didn't tell us you guys were together! Like, together together!"

The two in question flushed, while Port gave a polite cough. "Yes, well, we would like to be briefed on the situation," he said while Ren restrained Nora.

"Oh, o-of course!" Mikkol stammered, adjusting his glasses again. "Right this way, please, it'll be easier to explain in my office."

A few minutes later, they were all crammed into Mikkols' rather small office, waiting for the man in question to find a specific document.

"Where was it…" he muttered to himself before straightening out, a piece of paper in hand. "Aha! Here, take a look at this."

Port frowned thoughtfully at the rough sketch Mikkol had slid towards him. At first glance it might pass as a deer of some kind, but the malevolent, skeletal mask it sported over its spout denoted its status as a Grimm.

"And you say this has been skulking around the edges of the forest?" Port confirmed.

"Yes. We're lucky we have this sketch at all," Mikkol said, adjusting his glasses. "It prefers to keep to the shadows, watching. I'd say it's waiting, except none of the Grimm I've known have ever shown that kind of patience before."

"Well, yes, it almost has to be," Port muttered absentmindedly.

"Professor?" Ren asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, well, if this sketch is accurate we're likely dealing with a Wendigo. I believe we were planning to cover it after the Festival, but you'll get a crash course now." Port leaned back in his chair, stroking his mustache in what students liked to call 'story mode'. "This particular variety of Grimm is native to Atlas, where it is something of an equivalent of the Boarbatusk. They do tend to wander into Vale from time to time, and the ones that do are almost always old and intelligent, albeit not to the extent of the Goliath herds or Beowolf Alphas.

"Regardless, they're not any more dangerous than a Nevermore or Death Stalker of the same age; they rely heavily on ferocity, their horns, and their ability to passively lower the temperature of an area, and that is generally more a threat to unwary travelers than Huntsmen. We should be able to handle it with relative ease."

Port turned back to Mikkol. "Is there anything else?"

"No, though we would absolutely not object if you killed some of the other Grimm in the area while hunting this… Wendigo," Mikkol answered.

"Good!" Port announced, standing. "Miss Valkyrie, Mr. Lie, I know you are quite anxious to catch up, so feel free to do so under the understanding that we are leaving at first light tomorrow."

"I'll make sure she doesn't stay up too late," Ren replied.

"Good. Miss Lin, about our accommodations…"

"Of course!" Mei said. "We have a number of empty houses we can quickly furnish for you."

"Very well. Mr. Arc, Miss Nikos, with me. I believe you all have luggage with you that you need to unpack."

~o~

Back at Beacon, Coco stared down at the document spread across her desk, runningn a hand through her already-messy hair. No matter how she looked at it, it was still a damn good deal Weiss Schnee had offered her. And yet… and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that signing that contract would be a horrible mistake.

Finally, she let her head fall down to the desk with a loud thunk before gathering up the papers and re-stacking them.

"How's it going?" she heard Velvet ask from behind her.

"Terribly," Coco groaned into the desk. "It all looks right, but I can't shake this feeling that it's not. I mean, you know the saying: if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Just as applicable to business contracts as scams." She lifted her head and let it fall to the table again. "And the worst part is, I can't even use my family's lawyers."

That comment was met with silence for a moment before Velvet responded. "And that's a bad thing why…?"

"Vel, I know nobody likes lawyers," Coco sighed, turning around in her seat. "But they're very useful when you need to cut… through… the…"

Coco trailed off, her mouth hanging open, as she beheld Velvet, standing in the middle of the room, slightly damp from her shower and clad only in a towel. Well, a towel and a decidedly cheeky grin.

"Like what you see?" she purred, jutting out her chest and wiggling her hips.

A steady blush began to spread across Coco's face, which only served to encourage her girlfriend.

"I think you do." Hooking one finger under the top of the towel, Velvet began to pull. "Maybe you deserve mo-"

Any further teasing was cut off when Coco dove onto Velvet and practically tore off the towel.

Outside, Fox and Yatsuhashi sat in the corridor, waiting - in what was increasingly clearly a futile effort - for their female teammates to finish up their sexy times.

"Do you think JNPR would mind us taking over their room for a day or two?" Fox mused.

"Nope."

"Ah, cool," Fox said. "Any idea how we're gonna get our stuff?"

"Nope."

"I was afraid of that."

The two sat in silence for a while, Yatsuhashi silently glad he didn't have Fox's non-visual sensory abilities. Finally, Fox sighed and stood up.

"What are you doing?" Yatsuhashi asked, injecting a bit of concern into his voice.

"I'm gonna get our stuff back," was the answer. Fox took a moment to clear his throat before knocking at the door.

"You have ten seconds to get dressed," Fox announced in a terrifyingly good impression of Glynda Goodwitch. The swordsman mentally counted down the seconds, Fox reaching for the door handle and only just missing his chance by virtue of Coco throwing the door open.

The fact that she was only clad in a towel did not help matters.

"Fox, you asshole!" she growled. "We were in the middle of something."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he scoffed as he shouldered past her. "We just need to grab some stuff for an overnight stay and we'll be out of your hair."

Yatsuhashi followed his teammate in, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Velvet, sopping wet and clad in Coco's usual outfit, sitting on Coco's bed and doing her best to look innocent.

"Yatsu, what are you-?" Fox started before throwing his hands up with a sigh. "You know what? I'm not even gonna fucking ask."

It took only a few minutes for the boys to gather everything up, at which point Coco bodily shoved them out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Let's just get set up, and pretend we never sensed anything," Fox decided.

"Don't you mean 'saw'?"

"I said what I mean, and I mean what I said. Sensed is absolutely the right word."

~o~

The next morning found Port and Team JNPR on one of the farming fields near the edge of the forest, along with the farmer who'd spotted the Grimm in the first place.

"And you said it was in there?" Port asked. "In that specific spot?"

"Near enough, I'd say," the farmer replied, shrugging.

"Well, it'll have to do," Port decided before stepping into the underbrush. "Follow me, students. We have a Grimm to track."

What followed was an impressive demonstration of what a seasoned Huntsman could do. The old professor constantly spotted small signs that something had come through: dissolved leaves where Grimm ichor had clung to plants, the minutest of tracks, scars in the bark. At one point he had to stop Jaune and Nora from going tearing off after a set of obvious tracks that to him were just as obviously a decoy.

They also had to stop periodically to kill lesser Grimm, ones not intelligent enough to know that attacking Huntsmen was suicide. Port generally let the students handle them, and blade and bullet downed quite a few. More importantly, none had the brainpower to obscure the trail, though there was a scare with one of Nora's grenades.

Finally, they came into a clearing, where the trail seemed to end. Or, rather, where the trail devolved into a complete chaotic mess clear even to the most untrained eye.

"Hmm, that's odd…" Port mused, kneeling down to examine the tracks. "I'd almost say that there's more than one Wendigo here, but… Oh, I hope I'm wrong."

"Wrong about what, Professor?" Jaune pressed urgently.

"There have been… sightings. Encounters. Of large numbers of Wendigo in company with another Grimm," Port informed them, his voice grave and Ivory Barrage suddenly in his hand. "A Qirin."

That got him nothing but mystified looks.

"A what?" Nora wondered.

"I'll explain in more detail later," Port replied. "for now, all you need to know is that I've seen the tracks here in this clearing - and that they look very similar to Wendigos."

Jaune made to say something, then stiffened and spun around as _something_ snapped a twig behind them. "Ah... Professor? I-I-I think I just found the Qirin!"

The hunting party turned around to behold a pitch-black, horse-sized stag-Grimm. The monstrosity's head was a nightmarish skeletal rendition of its more natural counterpart, and the air around it _shimmered_ with dropped temperature. The grass was itself slowly starting to frost over as it trotted into the clearing.

Port frowned darkly behind his moustache as he cocked his weapon. "I'm afraid not, Mister Arc. That there is a Wendigo. Pay attention, students: there are several notable differences between Wendigo and Qirin. First and foremost, Qirin are solitary creatures. You will rarely, if ever, see two of their kind at the same time."

"While on the other hand, Wendigo...?" Pyrrha asked with dread.

Ren twitched slightly before slowly turning to observe the rest of the clearing. "Wendigo hunt in packs, if they can help it, right?"

The rest of the team was saved the issue of asking what Ren meant by a chorus of twigs snapping and cracking around them. A single glance was enough to reveal the horrific truth: they were surrounded by over a _dozen_ of the Wendigo.

"An astute observation, Mister Lie," Port nodded solemnly. "Yes, Wendigo are notorious pack hunters. However, there are other, much more prominent differences to be found between Qirin and Wendigo."

"Such as?" Jaune asked warily.

"Well for one, Qirin are substantially bigger than Wendigo."

The students froze before slowly turning their eyes towards the teacher.

"How _much_ bigger?" Pyrrha asked quietly.

Port made to open his mouth... and froze as a wave of hot wind flowed over him.

Slowly, the hunters turned around and beheld the _abomination_ towering above them.

"... about that big," Port solemnly informed them.

Standing serenely before the hunters was what to all appearances looked like an XXXL version of the Wendigo. But that didn't really describe the sheer difference between the two creatures. The mask of the Wendigo looked like it had been crudely glued on; the mask of the Qirin looked very much organic, engulfing its head and jaws alike and sporting a distinctly draconic edge to it. Two long, black whiskers flowed from its cheeks, and a giraffe's tail swayed from side to side behind it.

And then there was the heat. The Wendigo were reducing the temperature around them, layering frost on the leaves and grass. The Qirin was quite literally on fire. Despite that its surroundings were not, which didn't stop the Huntsmen from feeling it.

More to the point, there was the fact that something that big, that noticeable, had completely snuck up on them, to the point that it was barely six feet away, its each and every breath ruffling their clothing.

So close was it, and so fast was the movement, that none of them had time to react before it dipped its head, charged, and hit Pyrrha from below with its horns, sending her careening into the air and out of sight.

Of course, that left it open for Port to swing down Ivory Barrage. The steel axe cracked down on the Grimm's shoulder with a meaty thump, and while it didn't seem to do much, Port leapt back with a wince, his weapon and sleeve both smoking. Behind him, Port could sense the students preparing to fight, and he felt a brief hint of pride at the fact that they were standing their ground.

"Prepare yourselves for glorious combat, students," he ordered. "And don't try to fight it in melee-range! Another glaring difference between the Qirin and the Wendigo is their ability to set themselves on fire!"

Jaune blinked in confusion as he tried to process that statement. "Um... don't you mean that they can _breathe_ fire?"

As if in response, the Qirin started snapping its jaws together, the mask's overlapping teeth clicking once, twice, three times. On the third try, a spark flared from between the ivory jaws and quickly burst into a small flame that was disturbingly reminiscent of a pilot light.

"That too, Mister Arc."

The Qirin reared up on its rear hooves and _roared,_ an evil, keening noise that literally seared the sky alongside the inferno that belted out from between its jaws. The rest of the Wendigo threw their heads back and matched the noise in equal measure.

Which, of course, allowed Nora to fire a grenade into one of their open mouths. The explosive did its job and, after a brief moment of confusion by the Grimm, reduced the Wendigo's head to so much vapor, the body falling back and dissolving.

That shut up the remaining Wendigo, who reverted back to their instincts and charged at the students.

"Ren, herding! Nora, smash!" Jaune ordered, bringing his shield up to meet the charge. Behind him he could hear the Qirin and Professor Port clashing, and could only hope that the aging Huntsman could keep the Grimm off their backs.

Besides, Jaune had bigger worries as a Wendigo crashed into his shield, jarring him. Crocea Mors flashed out, little more than an annoyance, but enough to make the Grimm back off, allowing Jaune to step back and take the next Grimm on his shield. Another step back, as despite Ren swinging around the mob and using his machine pistols to herd the Grimm into a tighter mass he was still in serious danger of being surrounded. And, in fact, he could see the Grimm steadily creeping into his peripheral vision.

' _Dammit, Nora, what are you doing?!'_ he mentally screamed as Grimm pressed on him from all sides.

Shortly after that thought, Nora came crashing down out of the sky like an avenging thunder god. Magnhild came down on one hapless Wendigo, crushing the center of its torso like an overripe peach. Eyes crackling, Nora swung Magnhild in an arc, catching all three Grimm battering at Jaune's Aura and sending them flying over the canopy.

"You rang?" she said, grinning.

Jaune stabbed Crocea Mors into the gut of another Wendigo battering against his shield, before pushing the still-alive Grimm off of him. "Less talking, more smashing!" he frantically ordered.

Seven Grimm remained, and with Ren harassing their rear, Nora in the middle of the pack, crushing Grimm or trees with each blow, and Jaune still refusing to go down, they were doomed. The one Jaune had stabbed went down as the blond landed additional blows. Another collapsed like a sack of meat, riddled with bullets. The remaining five took Magnhild strikes to the face, their broken bodies flying into the air.

"Whew!" Jaune breathed, wiping his brow as Nora stomped down on the neck of the last Grimm. "I think that's all of them." He glanced at Crocea Mors, which was covered in frost. "Aw, shoot, I hope this didn't do anything to the metal."

"Put some Aura into it, that should safely thaw it," Ren offered, loading fresh clips.

"Right," Jaune replied, closing his eyes as he focused the Aura onto his sword. "Anyway, we should probably go help Professor Port. I don't think even he can win against that thing, not alone."

As if to emphasize the point, Port came flying past them, slamming back-first into a large tree with enough force to knock it over. The professor hauled himself to his feet, though it clearly took an effort. His once-pristine suit was now dotted with scorched holes, and his mustache, hair, and the handle of Ivory Barrage had a distinctly black color along their edges.

The Qirin, by contrast, simply strolled out of the forest, looking no worse for the wear. And yes, strolling was the appropriate word: slow, languid, and with not a care in the world.

"Professor, please tell me that thing has a weak point," Jaune whimpered.

"If it does… then I'm afraid that modern hunters... have yet to discover it…" Port panted.

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Well, in that case we just need to hit it until it goes down!" Nora barked, switching Magnhild to grenade mode. "Eat this!"

The pink grenade hurtled towards the Qirin, which made no effort to dodge. Nora grinned as the grenade sailed into its open mouth, a grin that died a swift death when the explosion failed to do anything. Well, anything except the Grimm's belly suddenly distending slightly, followed by it snorting out twin clouds of pink smoke.

"Wow. That is incredibly unfair," Nora deadpanned.

The Grimm, evidently tired of waiting, pawed at the ground once, twice, and then lowered its horns and charged. All four Huntsmen easily dodged the highly telegraphed move; Nora did not dodge its tail slamming into her gut with all the force of a piledriver and hurling her against another poor tree.

With that, the Grimm turned its back on Jaune in favor of facing Port again. And for all that it galled him to admit it, it was the right choice. Crocea Mors was unlikely to do anything to the massive, flame-wreathed beast.

Well, mostly flame-wreathed. The fire was actually drawing towards the front of the beast, where it burned even brighter. Taking the chance, Jaune rushed forward and slashed his sword over the beast's hindquarters. To his dismay, it failed to do more than draw a thin line; it didn't even deign to look his way.

"Okay, Nora's right, that's just not fair," Jaune groaned.

Still, maybe a stab would do better. But before the blond could attack again, Ren landed in front of him, hands cupped behind him.

"KIAH!" he shouted, slamming his open palms, glowing with Aura, into the Qirin's rear. Once again, it failed to do anything. Nothing, except Ren's distinctly pink-colored Aura seeming to play out over the creature's horns.

"The horns…" Jaune breathed. "It controls its power through the horns! Ren, wake up Nora, we need-!"

"Need something smashed, boss-man?" Nora said, smirking. Despite her bravado, both Ren and Jaune could see the slight wobble to her knees, and they both knew they had only one shot.

"Right, see those horns?" Jaune said, pointing at the body parts in question. "I need you to smash those."

"Righty-o! Give me a second." Reaching into her pocket, Nora pulled out an electric stungun, and promptly jabbed it into her thigh. Her Aura blazed, crackling with electricity, and she grinned, wider than she'd done so far. And then, she was off.

"And what do we do?" Ren asked.

"Let Professor Port keep its attention?" Jaune answered.

"I like that plan."

Leaping, Nora raised Magnhild in a massive overhand smash. However, to the horror of her and all the onlookers, the Qirin's head twisted around an impossible 180 degrees, its face pointed right at her. A click of its teeth, and a stream of flame engulfed the orange-haired girl.

"NORA!" Ren shouted, rushing forward only to be stopped by Jaune's hand on his shoulder. "Let go-!"

"Look!" the blond interrupted, pointing. Ren looked, and saw the sight of Port leaping up, bringing Ivory Barrage down on the Qirin's horns. Aura-infused steel met supernatural bone, and for a moment it looked to be a draw.

And then Port pulled the trigger.

The Qirin let out a keening cry as its horns shattered, its flame aura disappearing. Unfortunately for Port, it immediately reared up and slammed its front hooves down on his back as he landed, burying him in the ground.

This did nothing for the Aura strike, identical to the earlier one, that Ren slammed into its side.

Despite a good chunk of its internals turning to jelly, the Qirin still stood, which was more than could be said for most of its opponents. Port and Nora had been struck down, and Ren was now slumped onto his knees, exhausted. He could only watch as the Qirin reared up, ready to strike the final blow, and closed his eyes-

Only for a loud clang to ring out. Ren opened his eyes to see Jaune straining to hold up the weight of the Qirin on his shield.

"Dammit, man… don't… give up on me like that," he grunted. "Ugh, doesn't this thing know when to quit?"

As if in response, Jaune sagged lower, likely from the Grimm pressing harder. Ren attempted to move, to do _something_ , but his limbs refused to cooperate.

"I hate to say it… but I think we need a miracle," Jaune grunted.

There was a crack of air, and suddenly the Qirin slumped off to the side, starting to dissolve. Jaune scrambled to his feet to see Pyrrha's spear clatter to the ground, the girl in question standing at the tree line, looking battered and bruised but otherwise unharmed.

"Pyrrha, you're alright!" Jaune exclaimed, rushing up to her and wrapping her up in a hug. "Man, you came at just the right time!"

"I… will admit to waiting a bit," Pyrrha confessed. "There weren't any good openings until that creature tried to squash Ren."

"So not complaining…" Ren managed to get out from where he was still slumped to the ground.

"Oww…"

Jaune and Pyrrha broke their hug at the twin groans of pain behind them. Nora had pulled herself into a sitting position, looking red as a cooked lobster, while Port was still lying on the ground resembling nothing more than a beached walrus.

"Professor!" Jaune exclaimed, running up to the senior Huntsman. "Are you alright?"

"Well, my poor back is unhappy about the abuse, but I believe I shall recover," Port replied, his joviality still intact. "In fact, would you be a dear and give me a solid thump right on my fifth vertebrae?"

"Wait, which-"

Pyrrha sighed and gave the aforementioned bone a hard thump. There was a low crack, and Port let out a contented sigh. "Oh, that's better," he moaned as he got to his feet, twisting and bending his torso to loosen up the back muscles. "I'm really getting too old for this."

"I'm fine too, if anyone's wondering!" Nora called out.

"I'm not…" Ren added.

"Well, students, let this be an object lesson in proper target identification," Port said, dusting some dirt off of his horrendously burned and torn suit. "That, and a lesson in how insidious the Grimm can be. Sadly, this sort of situation cannot always be avoided, which is why we must always be ready for the worst."

"Yes, professor," Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren chorused.

"That's great and all, but can we go back to the village already?" Nora groused. "I feel sunburned, and I'm really hungry."

A sudden growling from her stomach only served to punctuate the point, a growling so out of place that Nora had to fight down snickers. Then Pyrrha had to fight down a case of the giggles, and soon they were all laughing heartily, as much at being alive at anything else.

~o~

"Oh, that was so much fun!" Nora chirped as she circled around the rest of her team, arms held out like an airplane's wings. "Well, getting blasted with fire wasn't fun, but the rest of it was!"

"And your hometown is a very nice place, Nora, Ren," Pyrrha added with a smile.

"Thank you," Ren replied, nodding. "Still, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd still like to sleep for the rest of the day."

"No kidding," Jaune groaned, reaching out for the handle of the door to their dorm room. "That day of rest back at the village helped, but I just wanna lie in bed and do nothing."

Jaune opened the door to the unusual scene of Fox and Yatsuhashi quite literally camped out in their room. The only thing missing was a campfire, and a scorch mark on the carpet indicated that they'd at least tried to start one.

"Uh, guys?" Jaune said in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"They just… won't stop," Fox shuddered. "I'd thought the whole thing about rabbits was just mindless bigotry, but no, it's very real."

"What are you-" Pyrrha began before blushing in realization. "Oh. Oh! _Ooooooh..._ "

Around her, Jaune blushed, Ren sighed and cradled his head in his hands, and Nora simply looked confused.

"I don't get it…" she whined.

"I'll explain later," Ren sighed. "Suffice to say that they're more than welcome to stay until their teammates, ah, get it out of their system, so to speak."

"Thanks, man, we owe ya one," Fox sighed in relief. With that, he grinned widely, clapping his hands. "So! Tell us how your first mission went!"

~flashback~

Blake Belladonna strode through the Beacon library, scanning over the titles on the shelves. She needed some books on the Color Wars, and she also wanted to try and pick up a new book series. Ninjas of Love, if they had it; she'd heard good things about the first book from the reviewers.

Her search eventually took her to a series of partitioned desks set against the wall. Currently empty, in a few months' time they'd be full of students frantically writing essays and cramming for exams. Blake smirked. She could honestly say that it was an experience she'd never had to go through, and quite frankly didn't ever plan on going through.

The faunus would have continued on her way after that idle thought had she not seen a blob of red slumped at one of the desks. There was only one person at Beacon who wore red in that bright a shade.

Walking over to the prone form, she paused to take in the sight of Ruby's sleeping face. Even at the age of eighteen, the younger girl was absolutely adorable when she slept. And she knew Yang and Weiss agreed, no matter how much the Schnee heiress protested otherwise. Asleep, her face seemed to regain that childlike softness that had slowly bled away with maturity.

Still, best to find out why Ruby was asleep at a random desk in the library. Blake reached out and gave Ruby's shoulder a rough poke.

"Mmrrgh…" Ruby mumbled, waving ineffectually at Blake's hand. "Stupid blue thing… don't take my cookies…"

' _Of course that's what she's dreaming about,'_ Blake thought, smiling to herself. That didn't stop her from reaching down and giving the other girl a rough shove.

"Waugh!"

Ruby promptly fell off the side of her chair, falling to the floor with a thump.

"Owie…" she whined as she stood up, rubbing her head. "Who did tha- Blake!"

"Hey, Ruby," the cat faunus replied. "So, why were you asleep at a desk?"

"I was just- Ow, ow, neck cramp." Ruby lolled her head from side to side, rubbing at the tender flesh. "I was just going over my part of the plan again. I must've fallen asleep after the… thirteenth time?"

"Ruby, take it from someone who's done it before," Blake said sardonically. "Falling asleep at your desk only gets you a sore neck."

"I know, I know. I just wanted to make sure it was airtight."

"So, what brought this on?" Blake asked, leaning against a nearby bookshelf. "I thought we weren't going to move to that step for a while yet."

"Well, that was always predicated on when Weiss got control of the SDC," Ruby replied, flicking through her Scroll and then offering it to the other girl. "And guess what happened yesterday?"

Blake took the proffered gadget and read the headline, her eyes widening in shock. "She's CEO already?!"

"Yeah, she must have cleaned house faster than we expected," Ruby said as she took back her Scroll, a hint of a grimace on her face. "Are you ready to go?"

"I'll need to double-check my supplies, but I'm pretty sure," Blake answered. "So, when do we do this?"

"My team has a mission to the Emerald Forest in a few days," Ruby replied, standing up and gathering some papers. "You should probably go as soon as I leave the building."

"Understood." Blake stood from her leaning position, taking a deep breath and releasing. "This is it. After this, with what we've got planned, there's no turning back."

"I know," Ruby said, not looking at Blake.

"We're going to have to kill people in the next week," Blake pressed. "I don't like it, but I know I can do the deed. Are you _absolutely sure_ you can?"

Ruby sighed, before turning to Blake and giving her a wan smile. "It's not a question of can. I have to. It'll get done, Blake, don't worry."

"Okay. Just checking."

That seemed to satisfy the red-cloaked girl, and she swept past Blake, presumably heading back to her dorm room. Blake waited for her to vanish from sight before sighing and going back to her search.

"That's not what I'm worried about, Ruby…"

~o~

Sienna, leader of Team SVRN, slowly crept through the Emerald Forest, senses on high alert. The silver-haired, dark-skinned girl and her team were on a search and destroy mission, checking rumors of a Beowolf Alpha. Beside and behind her, just out of sight, Verdigris and Napier attended to the flanks, ready to intercept any Grimm they stumbled on. Though the fourth member of their team was ahead scouting, it was best to stay moving on these search and destroy missions, outside of the daily camps. Besides, Ruby wasn't about to get lost that easily.

The dark-skinned girl's lips quirked up at the thought of her partner. The first impression back in initiation, that of an overeager kid in over her head, had been dashed upon actually talking to her and seeing her fight. And despite some inexperience and immaturity, Ruby had progressed by leaps and bounds into a brilliant Huntress. And with her eyesight and Semblance, she had been well-suited to assuming the role of the team's scout.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Ruby blurred into existence in front of Sienna, the usual shower of rose petals landing around her.

"The mission briefing was right," Ruby said without preamble. "There's a Beowolf Alpha camped in here. Luckily, it looks like it hasn't had time to draw in too many other Beowolves; twenty, at best."

Sienna nodded. Decent odds, if they played this smart.

"Alright. We'll go with the usual plan for this sort of opponent." Standing, Sienna unslung her weapon, the bladed halberd folding into place. Behind her, she could hear Ruby move into position, Crescent Rose unfolding into its War Blade mode. "Ruby, how far was the-"

Sienna barely had time to widen her eyes at the sudden sound of flying viscera before a searing fire swept through her right leg. She toppled to the ground on her back, barely noticing her missing leg in favor of the gruesome scene in front of her.

Verdigris and Napier were in pieces, heads and limbs removed from their bodies and their blood splattered all over the trees and brush. In the center stood Ruby, blood dripping from her scythe and one small drop on her cheek.

But what caught Sienna's attention was not any of that. It was Ruby's expression, her face twisted in a terrible amalgamation of horror and guilt. And as the silver-eyed girl turned her gaze on Sienna - and oh how terrifying those strange eyes were now - her face became studiously blank. The kind of blankness seen in soldiers returning from battle. Soldiers about to execute a prisoner.

About to kill someone in cold blood.

"Ruby, what are you-!" Sienna's plea for answers was cut off by Crescent Rose shifting into its rifle form, its wielder pointing the barrel straight at Sienna's forehead.

The Huntress felt herself start to shake and her eyes blurred, whether from tears or blood loss she didn't know. "P-Please, no, don't do this! I-I don't know what I did wrong, but- GRK!"

The plea was cut off by a heavy boot landing on her chest, shoving the air out of her lungs with a whoosh as several of her ribs collapsed.

"I'm sorry, Sienna," Ruby said softly, her aim not wavering a millimeter. "I wanted to do this quick, but now you're suffering." Ruby's finger tightened on the trigger. "Don't be afraid. Your life is being exchanged for millions of others."

There was a loud bang, and Sienna knew no more.

~o~

Ozpin sighed as he looked over the site. He had seen many like it over the years. Too many, and too familiar.

A large clearing had been made in the ancient forest, but it was clearly not natural. The trees and brush had been cut and sliced too cleanly for that. As well, the blood and flesh scattered over nearly every square inch added to the feeling of artificiality, at least compared to the forest around them.

"Headmaster!"

Ozpin turned around to see the head of the forensics team sent along with the medics and protective detail. "I trust you have something to report?"

"Yes. This is all preliminary, mind you, but I don't think any of it will change." The man reached to his clipboard and flipped through some of the pages. "We have positively identified Sienna Waltz, Napier Green, and Verdigris. As you might guess, this was not easy." At Ozpin's nod, he continued. "We have so far found only one expended round, large-caliber anti-material. At this point our working hypothesis was an unexpected ambush that killed them before they could effectively respond."

Ozpin frowned. Something about that seemed… "Have you found any traces of Miss Rose besides that one round?" he asked.

"Nope, but I'm not completely surprised," the forensics head replied. "You've seen that mess out there. We were lucky enough to find enough evidence to ID the other three."

"I see," Ozpin said placidly, taking a sip from his nearly-empty mug. "Miss Rose was the one who alerted us to this... this _tragedy_ in the first place. Is it possible she was taken, or simply ran and pursued?"

"Well…" the forensics head hedged. "It's _possible,_ I suppose, but- Did Miss Rose sound panicked when she radioed for help?"

"Yes."

"Well, then in my professional opinion, it's highly unlikely. Someone panicked like that would have let loose with a lot more rounds than what we found."

"I see." Ozpin took one last sip, and then idly tossed the mug back into the Bullhead behind him. "Would you mind if I looked over the scene myself?"

There was a quiet crash congruous with shattering ceramic from behind, prompting the forensics head to look oddly at the grey-haired man. "Uh, sure, I guess. Just don't disturb the remains. Gonna be closed casket funerals, but I think the families would like something to remember their kids by."

Ozpin nodded, before skirting around the man and entering the scene. He ignored the squelch of blood underfoot and the unpleasant coppery tang; both sensations were familiar, if not necessarily welcome, companions. It didn't take him long before he reached the edge of the site, and without any hesitation he plunged onwards.

A few steps later, something caught his eye. Small, innocuous, and away from the scene, he couldn't fault the forensics team for missing it. At his feet lay a rapidly fading red rose petal. Taking a deep breath, Ozpin glanced down the trail, and dashed forward at speeds he hadn't needed to achieve in years.

The trees blurred by him as he pursued that oh-so-faint Aura trail. A lesser Huntsman would have missed it entirely, but even after restraining himself to academic duties for several decades Ozpin was still leagues beyond your average Huntsman.

After about thirty minutes, the green of the Emerald Forest gave way to the red-orange of Forever Fall. He began to get flashes of familiarity - a deformed tree here, an oddly-shaped rock there - and a terrible possibility began to make itself known. He roughly shoved it back; that was not something he could consider. He couldn't be wrong about her. He couldn't!

Finally, he burst from the trees into golden grass growing on the top of a cliff. Though the view was spectacular, the clifftop itself was sparse. Just two stone plaques, words carved into them-

Summer Rose

Taiyang Xiao Long

And in front of them, one red-cloaked figure, hood up and hem slowly swaying in the breeze. For a moment, neither of them moved, until Ruby turned slightly to present part of her face, showing one eye and an impish smile so reminiscent of Summer that it almost physically hurt.

Ozpin opened his mouth to call out to her, to ask her what had happened. And yet the words wouldn't come out. It was her eye, the normally shining silver now… different. Duller, perhaps.

'Quicksilver,' came the answer, unbidden.

Transfixed by her eye, Ozpin almost didn't notice Ruby's figure dissolve into rose petals that blew away on the breeze.

"Ruby-!" he cried out, surging forward, but she was gone, his arms meeting only air. The only proof she had ever been there were the ephemeral rose petals - and a bloody handprint on each gravestone.

He knelt down, and poked a finger at one of the prints. The finger came away wet. Sighing, he pulled out a pair of vials and scraped some of the blood into each one for later analysis, before pulling out his Scroll.

"Ozpin to Beacon 3, requesting immediate pickup."

"Roger that. ETA five minutes."

As he waited for the transport to arrive, Ozpin knelt down and touched each headstone in turn.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Sorry for what, he didn't say.

He stayed like that for a few minutes before the roar of jet engines alerted him to the return of his ride. And as he climbed aboard, a terrifying thought occurred to him.

'How am I going to tell Qrow?'

~o~

The answer, after the question had been brought to Glynda (that woman had all the makings of a very fine second-in-command), had been rather simple.

"And here I thought you were my friend," Qrow groused from where he was strapped to his own bed with Aura-inhibiting cuffs.

"I am your friend, Qrow," Ozpin insisted. "As such, I need you as sober as I can make you so that I can ensure you don't make a mistake by killing me."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow at the bespectacled man. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

"Well, as much as my liver thanks you for the respite, could you unstrap me?" Qrow continued. "I think I'm as sober as I'm gonna get."

"Very well." Ozpin flicked a finger, and the cuffs popped open.

"I don't know why you're worried about me, of all people, actually managing to kill you," Qrow said as he sat up and rubbed his wrists. "Meh. Lay it on me. I can take it."

"Ruby's gone, Qrow."

Qrow's practiced apathy shattered, replaced by cold rage. "What."

"Ruby has disappeared," Ozpin repeated, his voice dripping with pain and regret. "And God help me, I wouldn't even know where to start looking."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Qrow roared, slamming a fist down on the bed and shattering the wooden frame. "My niece, one of the last good things in my life, vanishes, and you tell me you don't even know where to look?! Bull fucking shit. Either you're lying out your ass, or-"

"Qrow, please," Ozpin pleaded, holding up his hands for calm. "I'm not finished."

Qrow snorted before plopping down on the ruined bed. "Talk fast."

"She...was on a mission," Ozpin began. "To the Emerald Forest. They were supposed to kill a Beowolf Alpha before it got too strong. Barely a few hours after it started, we received a distress signal from her, and arrived to find the rest of her team massacred. Of Ruby herself, the only evidence was a trail leading away from the site, which I followed. And… I saw her, standing over her parents' gravestones, before she dissolved into rose petals. All that was left were two bloody handprints, in her teammates' blood.

"That is why I don't know where to start, Qrow. I don't know what happened there; I don't even know if she's still alive. And I can't go searching for her myself, I have too many responsibilities. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Qrow was deathly silent. "If I'm going to do this," he finally said, staring Ozpin right in the eye. "If I'm going to find her, then I need to do this alone. Completely. No police, no other Huntsmen, nothing. Flat-out block them from investigating if you have to."

"I see," Ozpin said placidly before nodding. "Granted. Do what you need to do."

With that, the headmaster turned and left the room. Qrow waited for the door to his apartment to slam shut, before standing up to his feet and walking into the kitchen. Opening up one of the cabinets, he grabbed a bottle of liquor and a shot glass, before sitting down at the table and pouring a shot, downing it in one gulp.

He was pouring the second shot when a framed picture on the counter caught his eye. Picking it up, he saw a thirteen-year-old Ruby, proudly holding up her first version of Crescent Rose, with himself standing behind her and looking inordinately pleased. Removing the back of the frame, he pulled out his wallet and slipped the picture in.

"Don't worry, Ruby," he whispered. "I will find you."

~o~

"I-I see…" Yang said dully, sniffing and breathing laboriously. "I- no, thank you. Just... just find her, okay? Please, find my sister..." Another nod, and Yang hung up. The second the connection ended, Yang grimaced and ran her fingers through her disheveled hair with both a groan and a sigh. "Son of a- that was the sixth call so far! How many phone calls does a poor, grief-stricken sibling have to go through?!"

"'ppar'tly- ulp!" Ruby swallowed the mouthful of ice cream she was eating, scraping the bottom of the carton she was holding as she reclined on Yang's couch. "Apparently half a dozen? Probably more. Losing a loved one is complicated! Oh, and by the way!" Ruby held up the carton and shook it expectantly. "This lost loved one could use some more Chunkey-Junky-Monkey and Gusher Cola. We're all out again."

"Are you kidding- Ruby!" Yang growled, tugging at her locks in aggravation. "That's the third time this week! Slow down, will you!? You're starting to eat me out of house and house and home!"

Ruby pushed herself up into a sitting position as she shot a look at her elder sister. "Okay, first off? This?" She twirled her finger to indicate the peeling wallpaper, creeping mildew, and discarded clothes, cups, and food wrappers littered all over the room. "This is not a home, this is a bachelor pad. There is a marked difference. And second?" Ruby turned her long-perfected puppydog eyes on and directed them at Yang. "I just killed my entire team, all of them innocent, and became a murderer. A murderer, Yang! Don't I have the right to eat in an effort to assuage the grief that's gnawing away at my heart? To stave off the sins I can feel covering me like the blackest of tar?"

Yang shot a flat look at her sister as she picked up a book from a nearby table and held it up for Ruby to see. "A few things. To start?" She flared her aura and incinerated the book in an instant, an action that was met with Ruby's dismayed wail. "No more published fanfiction. I don't like the vocabulary you're starting to pick up. Next, while that excuse might have been valid the first time, it wears out after a dozen cartons of ice cream. And finally, if you don't like the way I live, then you can go out and get your own hideout."

Ruby rolled her eyes with a huff as she collapsed back onto the couch, her cloak's hood falling over her eyes. "I will, I will. Just give me another week, alright? I want to wait until I'm sure Ozpin isn't looking for me before I go." The young woman ground her teeth in aggravation as she folded her arms beneath her head. "Ugh, he wasn't supposed to actually find me. This would have been so much more convenient if things had gone off without a hitch! Then I'd just be dead and the plan could keep going, instead of this 'what does he know' guessing game bullshit!"

"I told you that we were underestimating the old geezer..." Yang sighed wearily. "First he managed to tank a faceful of my fist and now this? I'm telling you guys, that bastard and his friends are going to be more of a pain in our necks then we first thought..."

Yang's musings were cut short as her Scroll began ringing again.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" She glanced at the caller ID and promptly gave out a weary groan. "Rumplestiltskin Insurance Agency, should have seen this coming... Alright, let's do this. Little help, Rubes?"

Without looking up or even moving the rest of her body so much as an inch, Ruby shot her left hand under the couch, withdrew a collapsed Crescent Rose, and fired a low-velocity round at Yang's head, bouncing the bullet off of her sister's aura.

"Mother-!" Yang hissed as she slapped a hand to the stinging area, gingerly touching the bruising skin as she groaned experimentally in pain. "Ah-AH-ah-ahhhh... there it is!" Keeping her voice at around the same pitch, she flicked her Scroll open and held it to her ear, panting and sniffing heavily. "Y-yes? T-this is Yang Xiao Long, how c-can I help you?"

~o~

Joe Perry, alias "The Fridge", sat in a bar nursing a cheap, watered-down beer. It was all he could afford, and the bartender couldn't be intimidated, since they both worked for the boss known only as "Gentleman Johnny".

At least he was being left alone, the 6-8, 335 pound bulk that earned him his nickname being thoroughly intimidating for most. He was an enforcer for Johnny, and a very good one: between his intimidating bulk and the fact that he could punch through bricks, most ordinary people were very happy to do whatever he wanted.

Key word being "ordinary". There had been a recent uptick in the number of Aura-wielding criminals entering the marketplace, and Perry was finding himself between jobs. The work would return - the Aura guys tended to think themselves invincible right up until they were disabused of that notion with fatal consequences - but in the meantime, he was stuck with this horse piss.

As such, it was quite a surprise to see a tall mug of foamy, dark stout suddenly placing itself on his table. He looked up. Correction: placed there by the absolutely gorgeous young lady sitting down in the chair across from him.

His eyes roamed over her, taking in the long brown hair with red tips, a face more on the cute side than beautiful, a bright red tank top exposing her midriff and plenty of cleavage (and quite obviously no bra), and just a glimpse of a tight denim miniskirt before she sat down. And best of all, she looked old enough for plausible deniability in case she was underage.

"Hey," she said, grinning. "I saw you sitting all alone over in the corner here, and I thought 'You know what. I'm gonna do my good deed for the week.' Plus, I saw what the bartender was pouring you, and no one deserves that."

"Thanks," he grunted, grabbing the mug and taking a deep sip. The cold beer slid down his throat, assaulting his taste buds with the flavor of hops and sugar. It was smooth, foamy, and oh-so-good.

"Woo!" he cried out as he finished, his mood rapidly brightening. "Damn that's some good stuff. And the good stuff's expensive, so forgive me if I'm skeptical of you doing this outta the goodness of your heart."

The girl gave a light giggle before leaning forward on her arms and looking him in the eyes. "Well, it broke the ice, didn't it?"

Perry grinned as he got a good look at the valley of her breasts, despite the shiver that ran through him at her eyes. Oh, yes, tonight was looking up, mercury eyes notwithstanding. "That it did, sweetheart," he said, testing the waters by surreptitiously running his hand on her bare leg under the table. "So. You offering what I think you're offering?"

So focused on the girl's breasts was Perry that he didn't notice the brief flicker of disgust and disappointment on her face. "Mm, I believe so, but where am I going to find whipped cream in that kind of bulk?"

The two laughed, a deep chuckle for Perry and another giggle from the girl.

"No, but seriously, meet me out back," the girl said, dropping her voice an octave and winking at him. "Don't keep me waiting."

And with that, she stood and strutted off, giving Perry a very nice look at her legs and butt, outlined by her skirt. He quickly finished off the beer, and slipped out the back of the bar, finding the girl standing in the alley, smiling cutely and holding her arms behind her back.

"Oh, you and me are gonna have some fun tonight," Perry said as he reached over and wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulders. "So, your place or-"

Perry heard the tell-tale click of a gun, and looked down to see the girl pointing a distressingly large revolver at his junk.

"Ah, I just love the Armando series," the girl sighed blissfully, even as Perry began to sweat. "Only five cylinders, but that just means they can cram a .45 cartridge into a .38 revolver." She twisted the muzzle slightly, and Perry resisted the urge to whimper. "And with good old hollowpoint, it won't just render you sterile, which will be a blessing to the world in and of itself, it'll also tear open some of the lovely arteries that flow through there. Kinda like cutting out the bottom of a cup."

The enforcer gulped audibly. "W-What do you want?" he said. Always best to see what the crazy lady with the gun wanted.

"Oh, nothing much," she said sweetly. "Just who you report to, and I'll be on my way."

Perry thought furiously. Joe was one of the local bosses, a collector. He also owned a machine gun and plenty of guys with assault rifles. If he could warn him, then Joe could spring a trap for this crazy bitch. And to do that, he had to play along.

"It's Joe, up in that video game rental place," he grunted.

"Well, that was easy!" the girl chirped. Perry relaxed fractionally as the pressure of the gun eased off of his crotch. "Just for the record, I'm sorry I have to do this."

The gun rang out, and Perry fell over, clutching at his ravaged groin. Dimly, through the haze of pain, he could hear the click of her heels start, then stop.

"On second thought, no, I'm not."

*BANG!*

~o~

Gentleman Johnny sat calmly at his desk, listening to the sounds of heavy gunfire from deeper within his home. The intruder had arrived barely two minutes ago, and already he or she had torn through half his security forces like wet cardboard.

Despite this, and the knowledge that the intruder was almost certainly here to kill him, he remained calm. After all, this sort of thing was an occupational hazard in this business, and he'd long since made preparations. His family, estrangement notwithstanding, would be safe.

And, he had a little trump card up his sleeve that might even the odds.

Finally, the gunfire stopped, and his two suited bodyguards reached for their swords. A brief pause, and something sliced through the door and a good chunk of the wall to either side, leaving it to clatter to the ground in pieces. The bodyguards flashed forwards, hands on their blades and ready to slice the intruder to bits. Johnny blinked, and suddenly both were bisected neatly at the waist, falling to the ground in a shower of rose petals and blood.

Standing in front of him was a young woman, likely just past the age of majority. Her hair was long and a deep, dark brown, with red tips. Young people and their obsession with dying their hair. She wore a long, flowing dress, in black with gray trim and red lace on the ends, the sleeves flaring out at the ends. Her skirt rose up to knee height in the front, revealing dark brown and eminently practical boots.

What caught his attention, though, was the massive red war scythe she was carrying.

"You are a hard man to find, Gentleman Johnny," she said, smiling.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment." He sighed through his nose, and then closed his eyes. "I know what you're here for. Get it over with."

And so it was a complete surprise when he felt a hand grab the collar of his suit jacket and lift him up.

"Unhand me at once!" he demanded, glaring straight into her eyes. He suppressed an involuntary shiver - they were like quicksilver, cold and deadly.

"Nah, I don't think so," the girl said cheerfully as she walked out the door, dragging Johnny along with her. "You and I are gonna go on a little stroll first. After all, it wouldn't do to get blood all over my new office."

~o~

Inspector Earl Grey watched as the forensics team fished the body out of the sea. They were damned lucky that the current had actually washed the body up on the shore; most of the time the riptide would take it straight out to sea, where it would be eaten by fish with nobody the wiser.

"Do we have an ID on the vic yet?" he asked the detective next to him.

"Yup," the detective replied, glancing over the clipboard he held. "John Ware, officially a moderately wealthy businessman currently estranged from his wife and kids. Unofficially…" The detective grimaced in disgust. "Gentleman Johnny, one of the seven crime bosses of Vale."

"Hmph. Been wondering when someone would off him," Inspector Grey grunted. "We have any idea who?"

"Nope. Inspectors are still determining the time of death, but all we know is that he was shot in the forehead by an Armando-series revolver in .45 ACP, and that whoever killed him left a red rose in the breast pocket of his suit."

Grey resisted the urge to sigh. Armando-series revolvers were probably the most common type of gun floating around the market, legal and illegal. And all the rose told them was that the murderer liked roses. Hardly useful information. No, most likely this was the result of a takeover and they could simply blame the new crime boss that would almost certainly announce their presence relatively soon. Open and shut, at least, that's how he would report it, and not something to expend much time and resources over.

With that in mind, there wasn't much more for him to do here; forensics could handle the rest. The inspector glanced out over the crowd of onlookers rubbernecking on the docks to the reporter standing across the street. "Okay, time to feed the vultures."

"Uh, Inspector?" the detective said, following after him. It occurred to Grey just how young the man was. "Shouldn't we stick around, just to see things through?"

"Word of advice, kid," he grunted. "Nobody gives two shits about what the criminals do to each other. As long as no civilians are involved, they can slaughter the lot of each other and all we police need to worry about is making sure that all of them are dead. That clear?"

"Crystal, Inspector," the detective sullenly replied.

~o~

'Hmm…' Blake mused as she stood outside the headquarters tent of the White Fang camp she was in. Just slip on her old mask and she'd been able to stroll right in. Sloppy, that. 'What kind of an entrance should I use?'

Luckily, a hand clamped down on her shoulder, volunteering the owner for said entrance.

Blake turned around to see a towering specimen looming over her, trying to look intimidating. She was silent for a moment before nodding firmly. "You'll do."

"Wha-ARGH!" the water-buffalo faunus screamed in agony as the Blake he was holding evaporated, all while the real specimen appeared behind him, unloading Gambol Shroud's full clip into his limbs and wrenching his arm around hard enough to snap his shoulder-blade in a mere second.

Within moments, the camp was filled with dozens of uniformed White Fang soldiers, with some in the trees and others poking their heads out of the tents. Not all had a gun, but all were staring at her display. Her, and the black ears poking out of her hair.

Blake waited until as many White Fang as possible were watching her before proceeding. Specifically, she waited until one with horns and a black trenchcoat showed up.

Once Adam was present, she relinquished the hold on her captive's arm, using her own hand to remove her mask.

"As of this moment," she stated loudly, her voice calling out to the whole of the camp. "I am taking command of the White Fang as a whole."

And with that, she flipped her grip on her weapon's blade and drew it across the captive soldier's throat, opening it wide and spraying blood everywhere, going so far as to splatter across her own face.

She watched the soldier choke on his own blood for a moment before looking back at the assembled troops. "Does anyone have a problem with that?"

There was the sound of a hundred guns cocking, only for Adam to hold up a hand. "No," he grinned, dropping to his knee. "There won't be."

Slowly but surely, the rest of the White Fang followed suit, falling to their knees and bowing their heads before Blake. Those that did not do so willingly were hastily forced to do so by whoever was closest to them.

Once arrangements were made and the soldiers had wandered off, Blake jerked her head towards a space between two tents, and started walking. Adam followed with a barely audible grunt.

"Glad to have you back, Blake," he leered eagerly. "I've missed having you at my side. As a matter of fact, your attitude seems to have, dare I say, improved. With any luck, things can be just like old times..." His grin became outright sadistic. "Maybe even better."

Blake rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Yeah, see, that's the thing..."

Before Adam could react, Blake spun around and rammed her fist into his gut, forcing him to double over. She then grabbed one of his arms and forced his head back so that she could glare down at him.

"A few things, actually," she continued coldly. "First, things will never be like old times again. There are going to be a lot of changes around here."

"W-what are you-!?" Adam started to say, before wincing as Blake twisted hard enough to make the bone creak.

"Second," Blake hissed, shoving her face up next to his. "I am not 'at your side'. As a matter of fact, I'm not even working for the White Fang any more. As of this moment, you and every other member of the White Fang work for me. You will do what I say, without question, when I say it and how I say it, or I will rip you apart. Is that clear?"

Adam's hand snapped to Wilt's hilt... and promptly stilled as Gambol Shroud's barrel pressed against the underside of his chin.

"I asked," Blake growled viciously. "Is. That. Clear?"

Adam remained tense for a moment longer... before releasing the grip on his blade. "Crystal," he ground out.

"Good." Blake shoved Adam away, sending him tumbling to the ground.

The bull faunus took a moment to work his way to his feet, rubbing at his arm. "Anything else?" he bit out, his tone far less cordial than it was before.

Blake opened her mouth... then slowly shut it as she reconsidered. "Now that I think about it... yes, there is. I have some... friends I want you to meet. Later, however. For now..."

Blake slid her mask over her face and cast a sidelong glare at Adam. "Tell everyone to arm up and get ready to move. We're going to give Vale a night it'll never forget."

~o~

Weiss looked out over the city of Vale from one of the board rooms in the local SDC branch office. It was located high enough to clear many of the city's buildings, affording her an excellent view of downtown.

Behind her, she could hear the nervous shuffling and throat-clearing of her new board of directors, and decided that she'd let them stew long enough.

"Gentlemen, I'm sure you're all wondering why I chose you as my new board members."

The uncomfortable shuffling intensified, and Weiss slowly turned around, looking each and every one of them in the eye. None of them held her gaze for more than a few seconds.

"Part of it is that I am quite confident you can do your jobs," Weiss said, her face still carefully neutral. "I am rarely wrong about such things. Do not prove me otherwise."

There were a few flinches here and there from the younger members, but otherwise no reaction.

"Miss Fall, be a dear and bring in the dossiers, would you?" Weiss said, snapping her fingers. Heads turned to the stunningly beautiful woman who had been waiting near the door, and gazes fell on the thick manila folders held in her hands.

Cinder circled the table, dropping a folder in front of each man with an ominous thump.

"Go ahead and read them," Weiss said. "I'll wait."

There was some shuffling hesitation, but each board member opened the folder and began to read through. Before long, the table was filled with wide eyes, shocked flinches and gasps, and more than one man biting his nails.

"I see you grasp the essential point," Weiss lectured, starting her own circuit of the room. None of the board members said anything, preferring to stare at the papers and stew in their own nervous sweat. "Let me make one thing clear: I own all of you now. If any of you resign from this board, if any of you refuse or resist my orders, and especially if I hear so much as a hint, a whisper of the words 'vote out' - and believe you me, I will be watching your every last movement, so I will know - then you will... how should I put this delicately, Miss Fall?"

"I just hope their life insurance is up to date, Miss Schnee," Cinder said sweetly.

"Ah, yes, that works. Thank you, Miss Fall," Weiss smiled beatifically.

If the board was nervous before, now they were flat-out terrified.

"Now now, it's not all doom and gloom," Weiss reassured them. "Stay behind the line, do a good job, and… well, let's just say that the stock you all hold will be very valuable by the time you're ready to retire."

That calmed them down a little bit. At the very least, there was less shivering and chattering of teeth.

"Anyway, you're all free to go home now," Weiss said dismissively, waving them towards the door. "We can discuss the state of the company at the next meeting. Don't be late!"

The board promptly stood and began packing their bags and briefcases with almost unseemly haste, and practically bolted out the door. As soon as the last one was gone, Weiss pulled out a small remote and increased the circulation in the room. With the ventilation steadily removing the stench of fear from the room, Weiss sat down in her chair at the head of the table and looked out over the city.

She felt, more than saw, Cinder stride up next to her. For a moment the two sat there in silence before Cinder spoke up.

"A nice display back there," she said smoothly. "But I still doubt you will achieve anything meaningful. The rot… runs too deep. You try to preserve as much as you can, not realizing that the whole edifice is rotten and crumbling."

"Perhaps you're right about that," Weiss conceded. "But I do think I can achieve something meaningful. After all, I'm not exactly working alone. Now, watch. Something interesting is going to happen soon."

As the two women watched, a plume of fire and smoke rose up in downtown Vale, followed by another, and then another, and soon there were a baker's dozen plumes rising over the buildings. Red and blue lights flashed as police, fire, and medical vehicles rushed to the center of the disturbance.

And more importantly, approaching down the street towards the office park the SDC branch was located at, was a solid mass of fire and white signs.

"I would suggest leaving now, Miss Fall," Weiss said, smoothly rising to her feet and snapping Cinder out of her shocked stupor. "Tell the driver to pull around and wait for us at the north sub-parking exit. It should still be clear for the next, oh... five minutes."

"Y-Yes, Miss Schnee, right away," Cinder hastily replied as she scrambled with her tablet, no small amounts of both awe and fear coloring her voice.

~o~

Vale burned.

Shortly after dinner hours, thousands of faunus had taken to the streets. Many carried signs, and were airing specific grievances. Most had merely taken the opportunity to vent their frustrations on their oppressors in an orgy of looting and burning.

The police had immediately mobilized, naturally, but the sheer number of bodies overwhelmed any possible response. Fire units with water hoses helped, but even they could not keep the massive riot contained. And the police were not helped by the Vale council banning any sort of lethal munitions. A sensible precaution, but the faunus rioters had absolutely no such restrictions. The police were pelted with bricks, bottles, Molotov cocktails, and even occasionally gunfire from shoddy, homemade weapons.

And at the center of the madness, visible only to the orbiting news choppers, stood Blake Belladonna, her mask conspicuous in its absence and her ears fully visible. The bodies of several policemen, all of whom had shot and killed a faunus in the last year, hung crucified from the makeshift crosses arranged around her. And though the news choppers couldn't pick up any audio, it was clear that the crowd was loving her speech.

"Faunus of Vale!" she shouted, arms wide and hair whipping in the wind. "Thank you for coming tonight. Tonight, we send a message to all who oppress us! We say this: that we will no longer stand injustice from those who call themselves 'superior'! We say this: that we will no longer stand by while the cowards in the council speak their pretty words and then turn their backs on those who need it most! We say this: that we, the White Fang, will not stop, until every faunus, be they man, woman, or child, can walk down the street with his or her head held high, knowing that they are free, and the equal of any citizen!

"But I caution all of you: tonight is only the beginning. We have much work ahead of us if our dream is to be realized. I am not going to lie to you; it will be hard. Most of you will likely die. But I promise that these deaths will not be in vain. That we will build a better world for all of us!

"Now tell me, faunus of Vale. Do you want to see this happen? Do you want to see justice served for all who came before us?"

There was a pause, before the crowd roared as one.

"I thought so! And now, we will take another step towards our liberation!"

Gambol Shroud was unsheathed and pointed at the SDC building looming over the city.

"There is our greatest enemy. There is the one point that would topple our enemies, should we only take it down. Tonight! We shall march on that building, and send another message to the Schnee Dust Company! That you shall not have the privilege of reform!

"Only destruction."

The crowd roared, and began to surge down the street towards the SDC building. Blake smiled, and hopped down from the semitruck she had been standing on for the speech.

"I'll admit," Adam said as he stepped up next to her. "This is going far better than I'd hoped."

"As I said, this is merely the beginning, Adam," Blake replied, her smile turning downright predatory. "There will be much more to come."

She slid on a feline mask, the fires raging around her reflecting off of the white ceramics.

"Of that, I assure you."

~o~

"Romaaaaaannnn…"

Roman Torchwick, petty gang leader, sighed and turned to the source of the noise. "What?"

"Do we really gotta do this?" said an orange-haired, freckled kid everyone simply called Carrot Top. "I mean, this is Crimson Thorns territory! D'you know how many people they've killed?!"

"Yes, I do. Which is why we're doing this the stealthy way, and I have a band of mercs waiting back at home," Roman sighed, rolling his eyes. "Not to mention that I went to Beacon for a year. I think I can handle any two-bit mooks a new gang like the Crimson Thorns can scrape together."

"But- Yow!"

Carrot Top slumped to the ground, clutching his chin, as a small girl in a white sundress and carrying a parasol, her hair a mix of pink, brown, and one bit of white, stuck her tongue out at him.

"Thank you, Neopolitan," Roman sighed. He turned to the rest of the small gang hiding in the dingy alleyway next to a battered warehouse. "Now, you all know the plan. We sneak in, grab as much Lien as we can carry - no merchandise! - and get out. And remember, I won't hesitate to leave any of you behind. Clear?"

The gang members all nodded, except Carrot Top, who just whimpered.

"Good. Now, the loading bay is usually deserted this time of night, doubly so with that riot going on downtown. We'll get in that way."

Ten minutes later, Roman was running down Vale's back alleys and side streets, Carrot Top panting behind him. The small part of his brain that wasn't gibbering in terror was busy wondering how it had all gone wrong. At least Neopolitan had gotten back to the hideout okay.

The rest of his gang, though, had been steadily picked off by… something. All he could see of it was a red blur, a red blur that sent limbs flying whenever it touched someone. Most of his men had met their ends, and it was only him and Carrot Top, running for their lives.

Carrot Top screamed, and Roman turned just in time to see a red blur take off the upper half of his torso.

Roman immediately pressed himself against the nearest wall, wincing at the moisture he felt seeping into the nice dress shirt he was wearing. His cane went up, sweeping across the alleyway. His pride and joy, he had cobbled it together from scrap after his Signal-made weapon had been confiscated, but it still shot grenades at people. That was enough for him.

Then the red blur knocked his cane out of his hands, and materialized in front of him. He blinked. It was… a girl, a few years younger than him, and rather pretty. She was also carrying a massive goddamned red scythe taller than she was, so he kept that little thought to himself.

"Roman Torchwick," she said, and Roman couldn't help but widen his eyes at that. "A small-time gang leader who nonetheless put together a plan that allowed him to rob the biggest fish in the Vale underworld. Successfully, I might add. Had the boss of the Crimson Thorns not been inspecting the goods that night, he might have even gotten away cleanly."

She reached down and picked his cane up, inspecting it. "You made this?"

Roman nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Well, I'm impressed," she chirped with a smile, tossing the cane back to him. "Consider yourself hired!"

Roman fumbled with his weapon for a moment before grabbing its shaft with both hands. "A-And if I refuse?" Roman managed to ask with barely a stammer.

The girl smiled, and then he was staring down the barrel of a very large-caliber rifle.

"G-Gotcha," Roman managed to get out with far less discipline. "I'll take the job. Er, what is it, anyway?"

"Well, Roman," she said, before folding up the massive scythe and slinging it onto her back. "First, call me Ruby. And second, I could use someone with solid thieving skills and leadership experience. How would you like to be a second-in-command?"

Roman blinked, and then grinned. "Do you really need to ask?" His smile faltered at the look on her face. "The answer is yes, by the way!"

~o~

Yang confidently strode up to the tenement apartment and stopped in front of the door. Looking it over, she rubbed her chin in thought.

"Nah," she decided. "Way too pedestrian."

Walking around to the side of the building, she tapped the brick wall with her fist. It didn't take long for her to find a spot she was satisfied with, and then she hopped up, braced her legs against the other wall, and pushed.

The blonde slammed fist-first into the brick wall, the fragile material shattering under the force of the blow. Yang strode through the dust, letting out a cry of "Oh yeah!"

"Yang is in the house, bitches!" she announced. "Prepare to have thine-!"

Roman, Ruby, and a stunned man in a military uniform standing in the corner of the room froze, staring at her in awe, fear, and in Ruby's case, more than a little exasperation. Not to mention the former two were apparently just in the middle of eating some cup ramen.

"Uh, sis?" Yang said, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Ruby spat incredulously. "I'm checking out my new hideout! Which you just put a hole in, I might add!"

"Whatever, I'll just take care of this, and then I'll be out of your hair." She turned to the mercenary. "You! Are you the douchenozzle in charge of the merc-band known as the Brass Mirages?"

The man hesitated slightly before straightening his back and marching forwards, cocking his gun menacingly. "Yeah, that's me. What do you-GRK!"

Yang effortlessly lifted the merc-chief a foot off the ground by his neck as she fished his scroll out of his pocket and held it up to him. "Call back to your base of operations. Tell your men that they have a new chief commanding officer."

"W-who-HRK!- GOT IT, GOT IT!" the merc wheezed pitifully, dialing as fast as his trembling fingers allowed when Yang's grip on his throat redoubled.

The Scroll rang a few times before the call went through. "H-Hey, it's me. … N-No, things are… fine. Yes, fine. We've just got a new commanding officer. … Y-Yeah, the old-fashioned way. … Who put that clause in?! Ugh, never mind, I'm pretty sure she'll be in to confirm it soon. … Yeah, she. … Look, you want your balls crushed? Because that's how you get your balls cru-!"

"Oh for the love of- screw this."

"Wha-NO NO NO-!"

CRUNCH!

Yang caught the Scroll that fell from the merc's limp fingers and held it to her ear while she wiped her other hand off on the cooling corpse. "Yeah, hello? Yeah, I'm your new boss. What was that noise? Oh, just the sound of your old boss's skull and gray matter collapsing under my fingers... No, no robotics or cybernetics, my weapons enhance my punches, I did that with pure grip. ...Uh-huh, uh-huh, I see... Alright, just a quick question, did he mention anything strange happening during this job? ... Uh-huh, just the squad that was with him, I see... and they haven't talked with anyone else? Perfect, perfect. Make sure that they hold at about a mile out of the base without and that they don't have any further contact... Of course I'm going to kill them, what kind of obscure take-over do you take this for!?... Uh-huh, uh-huh, yup... Alright, that's perfect, thank you!"

"Ugh, Yaaaaang, do you know how hard that is to clean up?" Ruby whined as Yang hung up, shifting back and forth in her seat as she watched the blood drain from the not-nearly-headless enough corpse. "Plus, I was eating!"

"Ruby, sis, I love you, but could you please stop talking and offer me some of those noodles?" Yang groaned, rubbing her forehead as she slumped into a seat. "I'm trying to preserve what little fantasy I have of your innocence while I still can."

"Yang, I've racked up a higher body count in the last month than most Huntsmen manage to achieve in a year, and I'm hunting humans."

"Just gimme the damn noodles!"

"Alright, sheesh." Ruby rolled her eyes as she snatched Roman's noodles from his hands and tossed them to her sister.

"Hey!" Roman started to protest. "Those noodles-!" KA-CLICK! "Are nice and warm, enjoy!" he seamlessly transitioned as the sisters jabbed their weapons at his face.

"Thank you. Now, I-" Yang frowned as a kitchen knife skittered off her Aura. Sighing, she reached out and grabbed a handful of pink-and-brown hair, lifting Neo up to eye height.

"That was very, very stupid of you," Yang commented. "I have half a mind to-"

The parasol in Neo's left hand arced up and broke itself over the blonde's skull. Neo didn't even wait for the two halves to hit the floor before planting her foot in Yang's ribs. Sadly, all that did was cause her to grab the offending limb, clutching it in obvious agony.

Yang watched the display with a befuddled expression that quickly morphed into a full-on shit-eating grin. "Ooooohhhh, I like this one," Yang cooed. "She's feisty. I'll take her."

"Alright sis, but be careful," Ruby replied absentmindedly as she scraped her fork around in her cup of noodles. "She looks like she might be fragile."

"Awww, Sis, don't you know?" Yang crooned as she watched Neo struggle in her grip. "The best part of new toys is pushing them as far as they can until they break."

Neo frantically looked at Yang, then at Ruby, then back to Yang, and then to Torchwick, who sighed and turned to Ruby.

"Don't I get a say in this?" he groused, before grinning. "Which is what I would say if I gave a fuck. Buuuuut I don't."

Neo's glare said all that was needed on what she thought of that.

~o~

"Ruby… Hey, Ruby!"

"Mwaaaah…"

Slowly, Ruby lifted her head up off the desk, looking up at the person who had violated her beauty sleep. "Blake?"

"Yeah, it's me," the cat faunus confirmed, a look of curiosity on her face. "You were dreaming about something."

"Just…" Ruby's jaw practically unhinged as she yawned. "You know. Simpler times."

Blake nodded wearily. "Yeah, I know the feeling. The parts hulk got possessed by another Grimm about an hour ago, and we need you to help us get it out without wrecking the thing."

"Again?" Ruby groaned, rising from the chair and working out a crick in her neck. "That's the third time this week!"

"There's gotta be something we can do," Blake muttered to herself as the two set off for the main cave complex. "Maybe if we…"

Ruby let her friend's words wash over her. Simpler times they may have been, but she wouldn't trade her current moments for anything in the world.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **AN: Credit to skaianDestiny on SB for allowing me to use his OC team.**

"Bullshit! I hit it, you saw me hit it!"

Ren and Jaune hastily grabbed Nora under her armpits as she attempted to lunge at the owner of the booth she had been playing at. The owner, for his part, was not helping, what with the smug grin on his face.

"I said 'knock over', didn't I? You didn't knock it over."

Naturally, that just made Nora strain harder for his neck, forcing the boys to really dig in their heels.

"I hit that thing _dead center,_ and I swing around a half-ton _warhammer_ for a living!" the orange-haired girl practically screeched. " _IT'S SUPERGLUED IN PLACE!"_

"Oh, please. Like any superglue would stand up to that kind of force," the carny scoffed. "Besides, rules are rules. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave so that other customers can enjoy the attraction."

" _YOU-!_ "

"Nora, think happy thoughts," Ren hastily interjected. "Pumpkin Pete's, cotton candy, pancakes-"

"Breaking his legs, wringing his neck, _popping his skull like a-!"_

" _Different_ happy thoughts, Nora, we've talked about this!"

Nora inhaled deeply through her nose, before relaxing somewhat. "This isn't over," she growled, glaring pointedly at the carny.

"Actually, it is," Pyrrha stated flatly as she walked up to the booth, flanked by two Atlesian Knights. She indicated the booth owner. "That's him, officers."

"Ugh, there's a fucking conspiracy here!" the carny complained. "Look, I haven't done anything wrong, so if you could please-"

" **Frederick Flam, your establishment has been accused of fraudulence. Please vacate the premises so that we may inspect them,"** one of the bots droned.

"Oh? And what right do you have to do that, hmm?" the newly named Frederick Flam coolly countered. Though the sweat starting to roll down his temple kind of ruined the image.

" **You signed a-"** the other bot started to drone before freezing up. A moment later, the two robots drew their weapons and leveled them at the carny. " **This booth is not registered with the Vale Department of Public Works. Frederick Flam, you are under arrest."**

Flam looked at the bots, then at the students, and immediately dove for Nora, shouting "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

A few minutes later, the two bots carried off a thoroughly battered Flam, though not before handing Pyrrha one of the plush stuffed Ursae included among the prizes. It was promptly passed on to Nora.

"So! Which games should we hit next?" Nora wondered eagerly as she hugged her stuffed bear with enough force to induce aneurysms in any animal rights group.

"Actually, why don't we go get lunch?" Jaune hastily interjected. "I'm getting kinda hungry for something more substantial than cotton candy."

"Psh! Let's hit one more game booth! I'm not hungry." Nora's stomach promptly let out an audible growl. "... That was Mister Fluffykins?" The stuffed Ursa's response was for its head to pop clean off. "Awww, Mister Fluffykins just broke..."

"And that is why we did not have pets growing up," Ren wearily summarized. "And why I spent half of my life as a seven-year old in a neck brace."

"There was a noodle bar a few stands that way," Pyrrha interjected, pointedly ignoring her other two teammates. "Would that be good?"

"Yeah, noodles. Noodles sound good," Jaune hastily replied.

Thankfully, Nora was too distracted to make any more trouble, first by trying to fix Mister Fluffykins, and then by the ramen selection. Ordering was done without a hitch, and soon the rather familiar owner was passing them their meals.

"Tonkotsu, extra egg?"

"Here!"

"Basic Miso?"

"Here."

"Kuro?"

"Thank you."

"Meat Lover Super Deluxe?"

"Oh, oh, over here!"

"Hey, old man, could you get me one of those, too? I'm feeling peckish today."

The students all paused in their eating to stare at Yang. "What are you doing here, General Xiao Long?" Ren asked only semi-coolly, with Nora just managing to restrain herself from elbowing him..

"Officially, I'm working with the Atlas guys to make sure security doesn't have any holes where our jurisdictions overlap," Yang answered, grinning. "Unofficially, this is my excuse to play carnival games and pig out on unhealthy food."

"Is Miss Weiss here?" Pyrrha asked. "Because I know you two have often worked together, and-"

"IT'S SO FLUFFY I THINK I'M GONNA DIE!"

Five heads leaned back to see Weiss Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Company and one of the most powerful people on the planet, squeeing over a large plush pug. Weiss, for her part, blinked as she realized she was being watched before blushing lightly at the attention. A quick cough allowed her to shift back to her usual dignified self, the pug pushed off onto Cinder.

"Not a word, General."

"Totally wasn't gonna say anything, Weiss Queen," Yang denied, grinning wider than before.

Weiss aimed a frigid glare at the mercenary before raising one of her hands and snapping her fingers. Within moments, Cinder was tapping on her tablet. A second later, Yang's pocket started buzzing furiously. She pulled her Scroll out and looked at it in confusion. "What the-?"

"At a guess, that call would be to inform you that Misters Jehoshaphat and Cray and Missus Ming have just left your employ and signed on to the SDC Security Force," Cinder blandly informed her.

"Two-Tone Joey and the Spiker Twins!?" Yang squawked in a panic.

"Quite," Cinder nodded primly before cocking an eyebrow at the current Schnee Matriarch. "Shall I extend offers to any others, Miss Schnee?"

"I don't know, Miss Fall..." Weiss mused as she gave Yang a contemplative look. "Should she?"

Yang closed her mouth with an audible click, before grumbling, "No. I'll-"

A steaming bowl of ramen being placed on the counter distracted her. "Food!"

"Thank goodness that's over with," Weiss sighed, turning her attention to the students. "Pyrrha, so good to see you and your team again. I'd say good luck, but I don't think you need it."

"Th-Thank you, Weiss," Pyrrha stammered.

Almost immediately, she was swept up in a tight hug. It occurred to Pyrrha that she was taller than her patron, which helped distract her from the cooing noises Weiss was making.

"If I'd known all I needed to do to get you to call me by name was act a bit goofy, I'd have done it years ago!" she announced, rubbing her cheek against Pyrrha's hair.

"Uh, Weiss…?"

"Oh!" As suddenly as she'd started, Weiss pulled away, the very picture of decorum again. "Miss Fall, did the good General…?"

Cinder jerked her thumb over her shoulder, where Yang was busy pigging out on her own bowl.

"Oh, good," Weiss sighed in relief. "Anyway, I won't keep you from your lunch any longer; goodness knows strenuous activity builds appetite like nothing else. Do your best, alright?"

And with that, Weiss turned and walked away, Cinder trailing behind her.

"She's right, you know."

Pyrrha turned to Ren, pinning him with a puzzled look.

"We don't need luck," he stated. "We're good enough to beat anybody, so don't worry."

~o~

"And announcing… Team JNPR versus Team CFVY!"

"What was that you said about not needing luck?" Jaune said to Ren.

"I take it back. Completely and utterly," Ren replied, his eyes wide in both shock and pure, unabated terror.

The members of Team CFVY strode by, Coco pausing just long enough to give them a wink and confident smirk under her glasses.

"Oh, well played, Coco," Nora muttered under her breath.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now I just wanna smash her face in." She turned to her teammates, fire blazing in her eyes. "C'mon! Are you gonna sit there scared, or are we gonna wipe those smug smiles off their faces?!"

"Yeah, c'mon guys, we've been over this!" Jaune added. "We've fought them, fought alongside them, and brainstormed how to beat them! We can do this!"

"Haven't they done the same to-"

"Ren."

That one word froze the young man in his tracks. He shivered under Pyrrha's gaze, unable to look at her.

"We're going down there, we're going to fight, and we're going to win. Understood?"

"Y-Yes ma'am," he squeaked.

With no more argument forthcoming, Jaune stood and walked down to the arena, followed by the rest of his team. Once they were situated across from CFVY, the screens started spinning for the terrain. The result: three-quarters forest, one-quarter mountain. The floor of the stadium opened up, a large stand of deciduous trees engulfing a majority of the field and a short, rocky mountain taking up the remaining corner.

"BEGIN!"

JNPR braced to attack - when Velvet's weapon displayed two new aspects. First, it unfolded within _moments_ of being activated. And second, the ability to conjure a Dust glyph that floated in front of it. Grinning, Velvet had her exoskeleton punch the glyph, shooting forward a blast of fire. A very _large_ blast of fire.

As Jaune was thrown into the trees by the blast, it occurred to him that maybe they were in over their heads.

Flipping in mid-air, Jaune smashed into a tree feet-first, his knees bending to absorb some of the momentum. The rest was transferred to the tree, snapping it in two, and Jaune jumped down to the ground as it fell. Crocea Mors was out in a flash, and Jaune began to shuffle cautiously, head constantly scanning for threats.

As it turned out, the action was unnecessary. Coco was not one for subterfuge, simply strolling out from between the trees, albeit with her rotary gun at ready.

"Where is the rest of my team?" Jaune coldly demanded.

"I dunno," Coco nonchalantly answered, before shrugging at the glare sent her way. "What? This is, like, easy mode compared to the initiation. They'll be fine."

Then she grinned, like a shark that's spotted a bare behind. "Well, from the landing, at least."

Jaune immediately bolted as the rotary gun spun up, his shield up to try and catch any stray bullets. Despite his efforts, he could feel the bullets thudding into his Aura. Gritting his teeth, he ducked further behind his shield and charged forward _into_ the stream of bullets.

Coco's grin fell, and she began to slowly step back. Jaune was relentless, though, and a swing of his sword forced her to duck and fold up her gun. The casing swung up, slamming into Jaune's shield and forcing him back. Slightly.

The two fighters warily eyed each other, neither willing to commit to a move.

"Damn, but you're tanky," Coco complained. "I mean, I knew that, but I never realised just how _much_. You just took enough firepower to cut a half-dozen Giant Nevermores in half."

"Gee, thanks," Jaune muttered.

"Makes me real glad I brought help, then, otherwise this'd take forever," Coco shrugged nonchalantly.

"Wait, wha-"

Jaune's question was cut off by a red boot slamming into his head, sending him flying into another tree and knocking that one down as well. Fox flipped in mid-air, landing gracefully on his feet.

"Wow, he is tough," Fox observed as Jaune pulled himself up with no apparent effects.

"Not tough enough to win," Coco countered.

"Well, yeah." Fox shrugged his arms, gauntlets wrapping themselves around his wrists and hands. "Not many things that are against badasses like us. His skull's _just_ thick enough to be _annoying._ "

Jaune let out a low whimper, but also tightened his guard further. He knew that he was going down, there was no avoiding that when you were in a fight with the odds standing at two-to-one against you, but at the least he could do something right and take one of them down with him.

Unfortunately, he'd barely blinked when Fox was right up in his face. Jaune frantically tried to bring his sword down on the dark-skinned man, only for him to catch the strike via Jaune's wrist. Fox tugged, pulling his opponent in closer, and then slammed the heel of his hand in a devastating uppercut that threw Jaune upwards.

The blond barely had time to tuck his shield in front of him and pull up his legs before the first bullets hit. As such, he didn't see Fox flip over him until the axe kick slammed into his shoulders, sending him careening down into the forest floor.

Fox came in for a landing next to the small crater Jaune's body had left in the soft soil, Coco slowly coming up behind him. He was not surprised when Crocea Mors stabbed out, deftly sidestepping and bringing his knee into Jaune's face. As the blond staggered back, Fox crossed his arms and brought them down in a deadly slash across Jaune's chest. He went flying again, hitting another tree, but this time didn't break it, merely falling down from the canopy.

And who should be there to greet him but Coco and her rotary gun.

' _Sorry, guys,'_ he thought as the barrels spun up. ' _I couldn't even beat one of them.'_

~o~

Ren only barely noted the score screen alerting the crowd to Jaune's exit from the match. He had his own problems.

Namely, that Yatsuhashi was proving almost as stubbornly strong and durable as that panda faunus they'd fought way back when, and Velvet's weapon continued to form an instant death radius around her. Not to mention the added complication of the constant elemental attacks from that Dust weapon built in.

Ren hastily reinforced his feet with Aura as the ground he was supposed to land on froze over, pushing off and away from the slide-slash Yatsuhashi sent in his way. And so the stalemate continued.

Unfortunately, it was not a stalemate that worked in his favor. As much as his stamina had improved over the last half-year, he knew it was still a weak point of his. Yatsuhashi definitely outclassed him in that department, and Velvet's combat suit was doing most of her work for her. Unless he could break the stalemate, he'd lose, later if not sooner.

Another dodge left him in midair, something he quickly realized was a mistake as Velvet zeroed in on him, lightning dust crackling in front of her.

' _Shit,'_ he thought to himself. ' _Sorry, Nora. Looks like I'm done for today.'_

Suddenly, a blur of pink and white landed in front of him just as the lightning bolt released. Nora took the electric shock to the chest and promptly collapsed. As Ren landed, he heard the crowd gasp and Velvet start to run up to the other girl, and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Nora, are you alright?" Velvet gasped, reaching down to the fallen Huntress. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

She blinked, noting that one of the arms to her combat exoskeleton was gone. In fact, so was Nora.

" _Oh ho ho ho!"_ Velvet flinched at Nora's voice suddenly coming from nowhere. " _That's riiiiight, I never_ diiiiid _explain what my Semblance was to you guys, diiiid I?"_

Velvet started frantically spinning in place, her head on a swivel as she tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

" _Coco cooooould tell that electricity makes me aaaaaallll hyper and stuff. Buuut that would only tell half the story, because I don't get very much juice from a wall socket."_

Gritting her teeth, Velvet jerked her elbow back into her weapon's side, prompting it to load up a mixture of all twelve Dust types. The minute she showed her face, she'd show Nora just what Cottontail Carapace was capable of.

" _Seeeeee, my Semblance is to weld Aura and electricity together forever and ever! Iiiiiit's like a turbocharger! And the more electricity, the more_ POWAH!"

Velvet paled at that information. Aura boosted _everything_. If Nora was basically supercharged on it-

" _And this cuuuuuute little mech of yours..."_ Nora's voice dropped to a purr. " _So full of delicious,_ delicious..." She could practically hear the berserker licking her lips. " _Energy_..."

Before Velvet could react to the voice coming from _right behind her_ , there was a sound of rending metal. She made to turn around, only for a set of ironclad arms to wrap around her neck, breath tickling her ear.

" _Heeeeeyyyyy."_

Ren was evading another one of Yatsuhashi's slashes when Velvet slammed into him, Cottontail Carapace in pieces, with enough force to send both of them flying into the mountain and trigger a sizeable rockslide.

"Hey, Ren!" Nora chirped as she suddenly materialized in front of him. "Watcha doin'?"

"Well, right now I think I'm going to go help Pyrrha out," Ren replied, glancing meaningfully at the other two students buried under the rubble. "Hopefully she'll still be in fighting condition when I get there."

"Okay, cool!" Nora chirped. "Because I'm about to pass out!"

*WHUMP!*

And with that, Nora slammed face-first into the dirt, her butt sticking up into the air. The screen dutifully relayed that she was basically out of Aura.

Ren chuckled and shook his head, before shooting off into the woods. Time to find Pyrrha and end this, one way or another.

~o~

As it turned out, the redhead had been thrown the furthest by the explosion of fire. As such, she had still been making her way back to the fight when Jaune was knocked out. Sighing, she resolved to simply press on; there was nothing she could do about it.

Only a couple minutes later, she came to a stop as she heard rustling and cursing. Said noise revealed itself to be Coco fighting her way through the underbrush, a few stray branches sticking out of her beret.

"Stupid stadium, whose bright idea was it to- Whoa!"

The fashionista hastily ducked as Pyrrha's shield nearly slammed into her forehead. The shield bounced off a tree behind her and into Pyrrha's waiting hands as she dove at Coco, Milo poised to stab downwards.

Coco hastily rolled out of the way as Pyrrha came down, and unfolded her gun, aiming it at the redhead. Pyrrha, for her part, prepared to dodge, only to have an idea come to her. It was extravagant and showy - but this was an exhibition match with Weiss watching. Time to put on a show.

As Coco's gun spun up and started firing, Pyrrha merely held up her hand. The bullets were caught in the intense magnetic field she was producing, coming to a halt suspended in mid-air. The fire soon stopped, Coco not wanting to waste ammunition, and Pyrrha idly plucked a bullet from the air and examined it, before letting the rest drop to the ground.

"Okay, that's just not fair," Coco groused, before grinning. "Good thing I didn't come alo- OH SHIT!"

Coco was forced to bring up her weapon in a two-handed grip, clumsily using it as a sort of ersatz polearm as Pyrrha opened up with a fierce whirlwind of slashes, stabs, and shield slams.

"I - am - so - not - built - for - this!" Coco ground out between blocks. "FOX!"

The man in question tumbled into the clearing - not the controlled tumble of an uninhibited entrance, but the somewhat uncontrolled one of being thrown by someone. He bounced off the ground, skidding to halt in the grass, before charging forward and meeting Ren, who'd torn out of the tree line mere moments after Fox, in a flurry of blades and kicks.

Unfortunately for Coco, the distraction of processing the scene was a fatal one as Milo slammed into her torso just below her sternum, knocking the breath out of her. She unconsciously slumped to the ground, clutching her chest and attempting to get her breath back. More importantly, her gun slipped out of her fingers, and she was dimly aware of Pyrrha kicking it away.

Looking up, she saw Pyrrha looming over her, ready to fully deplete her Aura. Letting out a small sigh, she held up her hands in surrender.

"Okay, I know when I'm beat and I'd rather avoid getting beat up on to deplete my Aura. I give up." Straightening up a bit, though still kneeling, she called out, "Yo, Fox! You gonna forfeit, too?"

Fox glanced over to Coco, then up to Pyrrha, and hopped back away from Ren. "Yeah, sure. I mean, two-on-one is no fun when you're on the receiving end."

"Winner: Team JNPR!"

The crowd erupted into cheers as the artificial terrain lowered away. Though Ren flinched slightly at the attention, Pyrrha just put on an easy smile and waved up to the audience. It was, after all, normal for her.

"Good job, you guy, seriously," Coco said, clapping her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "We weren't holding back at all there, and I still have no idea how you took out Velvet and Yatsu."

"Did we win?"

Pyrrha looked down from the audience at Jaune, who was looking adorably confused. "Yes, Jaune, we won."

"Oh come on!" Coco whined. "How are you still up and about?! You were out of Aura, for Pete's sake!"

"Yeah, and?" Jaune replied, still looking confused.

Coco angrily indicated towards where Nora was still lying unconscious. Ren kneeled down next to her, and injected a bit of Aura. Almost immediately, Nora jerked upwards, a manic gleam in her eyes. "Whoo! Even better than smelling salts!"

Further back on the stage, Fox was doing the same to his own teammates.

"I see," Jaune lied. "Well, we should probably get back to our seats. Nora, are you-"

"Actually, I'm gonna go hit the concession stands. Be right back!" And with that, she zoomed past Jaune and into the stadium.

"I'll go after her and make sure she doesn't overdose on sugar. Again," Ren said with a long-suffering sigh.

Jaune and Pyrrha both shrugged and headed back to their seats alongside CFVY, Coco giving Jaune dirty looks the whole time. Shortly after they were settled, Professor Port announced the next matchup.

"Next match: Team BRNZ versus Team, er... EMMM!"

"Wow, he mangled that pronunciation," Jaune observed.

"In fairness, that team name has a very… non-obvious pronunciation," Pyrrha hedged.

"Still though..." Velvet mused as she looked over her Scroll. "Team Emerald and their leader's name is Emerald? Isn't that a bit, eh... nepotic?"

"I don't think that's the right word," Yatsuhashi pointed out. "But yes, I agree."

"Those two in the hoodies look vaguely familiar…" Fox muttered.

The time for talking was over, though, as the terrain rose into place. Once again, it was three-fourths forest, with the last quarter tall grass. All the fighters except for Mercury and Emerald tensed, waiting for the match to start.

"Begin!"

Brawnz immediately rushed forward, Nolan and Roy following close behind and May dropping back to provide ranged support. The charge was met not by the full team, but by the hoodie-clad girls, Emerald and Mercury melting back into the grass.

And as the hoodie-wearing pair met the male members of BRNZ, it became clear why.

"Not bad," Coco remarked as she watched the twins manhandle their opponents with flawless teamwork, seeming to literally dance around their opponents. "Circle around, take out the ranged support, and then hit them from behind. Simple, but that usually works with the right execution."

May promptly made her presence known with a shot that skittered off of the Aura of the teammate wearing the white hoodie. The twins retreated into the grass, which quickly obscured them from the ground view.

The BRNZ boys stayed out of the grass, milling about rather aimlessly and clearly unsure about what to do. Luckily for them, Mercury solved that dilemma by kicking Roy in the face.

"Oh, shotgun boots," Velvet observed.

Emerald joined in the fight shortly after. Though calling it a 'fight' was something of an insult to the word.

"I swear, it's _something_. It's on the tip of my tongue!" Fox muttered under his breath as Emerald tossed May's unconscious body out from the trees.

"Well, that was fast," Jaune noted.

"Solid plan, superb execution," Coco summarized. "That, and Mercury and Emerald were leagues above the rest of the fighters there. Even those twins. You get a good look at their fighting styles, Pyrrha?"

"Mm," the redhead nodded. "Though I wish I had more information on their Semblances."

"Don't we all," Velvet groused.

"Which reminds me," Coco said, turning around to her girlfriend. "How did you guys get taken out? I was busy fighting Pyrrha, so…"

"Did you know that Nora's Semblance involves her absorbing electricity?" Velvet pointedly asked.

"Kinda?" Coco hedged. "There was the incident with the light socket, but-"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yup!"

All six students turned around to see Nora vibrating up and down like a jackhammer, Ren carefully navigating her between the annoyed onlookers. Once they reached their seats, Ren parked Nora in front of hers before slumping down in his own.

"Uh, I thought you said you were gonna _stop_ her from overdosing on sugar."

Ren gave Jaune a pointed, haunted look. "Trust me. This is nothing."

Nora's feet, everyone noted, were starting to crack the concrete. A silent agreement passed between them to never speak of the matter again.

~o~

Weiss yawned widely as the two teams clashed below. It was not a very interesting match; PNCK's offensive power was absolutely overwhelming the team they were up against. Still, most eyes were on the arena floor; after all, exhibition matches like these only came around once a year.

As such, Weiss was well positioned to see the red blur going through the stands. For a moment, she thought she'd imagined it, and then it passed by again. By now, she had a sneaking suspicion what it was, so she pulled out her Scroll and quickly dialed a number, indicating Cinder to activate the white noise device. "Blake…"

" _I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry-"_

"Blake. Calm down," Weiss firmly ordered. "Deep breaths. Now, what did Ruby drink?"

" _Okay… I'm okay. Uh, Ruby was getting nervous, so I directed her to my tea stash for something calming. Unfortunately, I didn't supervise and she, uh, got into one of my caffeinated teas instead of the chamomile."_

Now it was Weiss who had to take a calming breath. "Okay. That's… maybe bad. Has she built any doomsday weapons?"

" _No."_

"Has she tried to turn Crescent Rose into an android companion?"

" _No, thank God. That last iteration was_ way _too smart, I almost felt guilty when I put a bullet through its motherboard."_

"Has she carved out any hidden layers in the lair?"

" _No, I'm pretty-! ... Did Ruby always have a bust of herself next to her desk?"_

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Make sure that's the worst of what she's done, please."

" _Weiss, we've got bigger problems! I have no idea where she is, and-!"_

"She was here. In the Coliseum."

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. " _... You mean the floating Coliseum that is a clear two miles off the ground, right?"_

"Indeed."

" _...Fucking Semblances."_

"Yup _,_ " Weiss popped the p flatly.

There was an explosive sigh on the other end. " _Well, hopefully she'll be back before X-day, and is already finished with her preparations, otherwise this would be a nightmare. Well, a bigger nightmare than it already is."_

"Actually, Yang gave me a method to get her to you when she's like this," Weiss said. "You know the 'Like a good neighbor' jingle?"

" _Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there?"_

" _HeyBlakebyeBlake!"_

" _Gah! Close the doors, lock up every damn it she's gone."_

"Sing it again and be ready, she'll come back. According to Yang, she got so used to scaring her with it that Ruby's response is practically second nature to her."

" _Gotcha. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!"_

" _HeyBlakegrmgflh!"_

" _I got her."_

"Good. Actually, while I'm talking to you, how are the preparations going? Everything on schedule?"

" _Yes, thank goodness. It hasn't been easy, and I'm still half-worried that someone's going to walk in on us, but we'll be ready to go."_

"Good, good." The sudden cheers drew Weiss' attention to the arena floor, where the current match was ending. "Because soon it'll be time for the next phase of the plan."

There was a brief silence as Blake mentally ran over this section of their plans. " _Ah, right. I'll keep an eye on the Grimm levels, then."_

"Yes, quite. I'll be in touch." Hanging up, Weiss stowed her Scroll and turned her attention back to the matches. Ah, and there was Penny, demonstrating her combat readiness in the most direct manner possible.

"Oh, that reminds me," Weiss said. "Miss Fall, would you be a dear and make sure JNPR go up against Mr. Black and Miss Sustrai?"

"Of course, Miss Schnee," Cinder replied, quickly tapping a few commands into her tablet.

~o~

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Nora quietly squealed as she hopped in place, watching the roulette wheel that would determine their opponent spin. "Whose legs do we get to break next?"

Pyrrha smiled and shook her head at her teammates' antics. Seems like at least some of the sugar high was still there. Still, she could agree with the sentiment, at least the part about matching your skills against your opponents'.

The leg-breaking she could do without.

Finally, the roulette wheel began to slow down, before coming to a halt and revealing the matchup.

"Emerald and Mercury of Haven versus Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie of Beacon!"

"Aw, yeah, let's go!" Nora announced, a manic grin on her face. She immediately set off down to the arena floor, Pyrrha following behind and watching their opponents do the same. The pair seemed… confident. Relaxed. Too relaxed, even. There was an air of bored nonchalance about them. Either they were supremely overconfident, or they had an ace or three up their sleeves that they hadn't shown.

Pyrrha had a sinking feeling that it was the latter.

The two pairs of fighters soon reached the stage and stood in silence. However, as the terrain began to rise - half desert sand, half ruined city - Mercury broke the it.

"Break a leg, you guys."

"You'll need it," Emerald added with a slight smirk.

"Begin!"

Pyrrha and Nora quickly jumped back into the urban ruins, weapons shifting into their ranged modes. As they did so, Nora lobbed a pair of grenades downrange, the weapons exploding in twin blasts of pink flame.

Pyrrha raised Milo to shoulder height, only to find that both fighters were gone. She immediately turned her gaze upwards to find Mercury above them, right leg raised to bring down on Nora's skull.

"Nora, look out!" Pyrrha cried, also applying her Semblance a bit to the boots. Nora looked up just in time to see Mercury land with a crash right next to her. As in, waaay in her personal space.

Mercury promptly reached up and beeped Nora on the nose. "Boop! You're it!"

Pyrrha, being six feet away, had a front-row seat to Nora's face turning an unhealthy shade of red, steam practically whistling out of her ears. "You jackass!" she roared, shifting Magnhild back into hammer form and attempting to smash Mercury with it.

"Wait, did you want to play Whack-a-Mole instead of tag?" Mercury asked as he danced out of the way of the telegraphed strike. "Because if so, we really should have communicated this better."

"Hold still so I can smash you!" Nora barked alongside more overhead smashes.

"But I wouldn't be a very good Game Master if I let my players have it too easy, now would I?" Mercury pointed out, weaving around the blows. "Wait, shoot, I think I'm mixing my metaphors again."

Pyrrha made to help, before the game of Whack-a-Mole drew both of them out of sight, only to shift her grip and block one of Emerald's kukri guns with Milo.

"Ah, yes, the SDC's golden girl, the _Invincible_ Champion," Emerald drawled. "My friend's been talking about you a lot lately..." Her gaze hardened viciously. "I don't _like_ it when she talks about anyone else." She flipped her guns up into a ready position. "Which means that I'm going to _enjoy_ this."

Pyrrha promptly deflected the stream of bullets sent her way, lashing out with a sweep. Emerald tangled up the spear in her blades, and wrenched, trying to twist it out of Pyrrha's grip. It didn't budge, and Emerald almost ate the edge of Pyrrha's shield, forcing her to let go of Milo. The redhead pressed a button, and with a bang and a little assistance from her Semblance the spear shot out of her hand with the intention of hitting Emerald in the chest.

Instead, it only shattered some wall.

Pyrrha had no time to ponder the mystery before having to roll under another burst of gunfire. She used the opportunity to retrieve Milo and sprang to her feet to find Emerald behind where she'd been and no sign of Nora and Mercury. Not that the latter mattered, she could still hear the howls of rage and explosions in the distance.

"Okay, so maybe you didn't just coast by on reputation and the money of your rich bitch of a sponsor alone," Emerald grudgingly admitted. Suddenly, she jerked her head to a random corner, before shooting Pyrrha a smug grin. "We'll finish this later. Hopefully this doesn't do you in; that would just be _so_ disappointing."

Pyrrha charged forward to try and stop her, but Emerald was out of sight too quickly.

"There you are, you jackass!"

Well, Nora charging around a corner, Magnhild aimed directly at her and a crazed look in her eyes probably had something to do with it, too.

"Nora, wait, friendly-!"

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Thinking fast, Pyrrha yanked up Magnhild's barrel. The grenade sailed overhead, before exploding some distance behind them.

"Nora!" Pyrrha snapped, turning an angry gaze on the orange-haired girl. "What have we said about friendly fire?!"

"B-But-!" Nora stammered in wide-eyed confusion. "I- He was- When did-"

Pyrrha's anger bled away at the honest confusion on the other girl's face. She had a sneaking suspicion as to what was going on…

"It's alright, no harm done," Pyrrha kindly replied. "You thought I was Mercury, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Nora whirled to her left, jabbing an accusatory finger at Mercury. "You!"

"Me?"

"Mercury Black, prepare to die!" Nora practically shrieked, lunging at him with her hammer again. And once again, Mercury dodged the blow and hopped away from Pyrrha, Nora giving chase in her rage.

Pyrrha, for her part, didn't follow. Their plan was starting to come together for her, and Nora would have to fend for herself for a while. Instead, Pyrrha slung her shield over her back, extended Milo to its greatest length, and closed her eyes.

Her awareness of her other senses expanded, and one by one she blotted them out. The roar of the crowds, the smell of concrete dust and gunpowder, all but the touch of her weapon and an… awareness. All around her was metal. Above her, below her, to all sides - and one smaller source heading straight for her.

Pyrrha waited, the metal getting closer and closer. And then it shot towards her at high speed. The redhead couldn't react before it cut into the Aura protecting her side, and a grab of her hand hit nothing but air, letting another slash hit her torso. She felt the metal step back, probably for another one of those condescending speeches Emerald seemed fond of, and she lunged forward, driving Milo into a high-speed thrust. She hit nothing, but the movement of the metal seemed almost frantic that time as it dodged out of the way.

Shifting back into her ready stance, Pyrrha waited for the next blow. It wasn't long in coming, another slash aimed at her right side. This time, she deftly sidestepped, turning it into a mere glancing blow. Milo lashed out in another thrust, and this time she was reward with a slight bit of resistance.

' _I got her that time. Just a nick, but I got her. Still, she's a Huntress, and a fairly strong one. I can't keep relying on my reflexes like this. And my awareness still isn't precise enough to fight normally, especially with all this concrete around.'_

A smile split Pyrrha's face as she came to a solution. She dropped into her stance again, and was rewarded by Emerald shooting forward for another attack. This time, the redhead didn't dodge, and the twin blades smashed into the Aura protecting her neck.

And then they stayed there.

Pyrrha could feel a slight tugging as her opponent tried to break free of the magnetic grip. A futile action, especially when Pyrrha clamped her hand down on Emerald's wrist. Dropping Milo, she unslung her shield, strapped it to her right arm, and slammed its edge into Emerald's jaw in one fluid motion. Simultaneously, she let go of Emerald's arm, allowing her to shoot up into the air. Milo was retrieved, her shield switched back to her left arm, and when Emerald came down Pyrrha was in perfect position to slam her spear into the dark-skinned girl's side.

*CRASH!*

Pyrrha opened her eyes, taking in the scene. There was no sign of Emerald besides a tanned arm sticking out of a pile of rubble. The noise had presumable been the Huntress smashing through one of the buildings.

The display promptly flashed Emerald as out, and Pyrrha let herself relax, if only slightly. Especially since the rubble was moving.

"Owwww…" Emerald groaned as she pushed her way out of the rubble. "How the _fuck_ did you do that?"

"Do what?" Pyrrha asked innocently. "How did I beat you? Well, I _think_ that having more natural talent then you might be a good place to start..."

"Touche, Nikos, touche," Emerald grumbled. "Hey, shouldn't you be helping your teammate instead of bantering with me?"

Mercury picked that moment to slam to the ground and attempt to roll away from the ballistic Nora trying to turn him into a pancake. Unfortunately for him, his feet refused to move. He glanced over to Pyrrha, who was giving him a sweet smile even as she held out her hand.

"Clever girl…" he muttered before Nora slammed Magnhild onto his head. Though he staggered slightly, he stayed standing, and the screen dutifully relayed that he was out of Aura.

Pyrrha sagged slightly as she relaxed, then thrust her spear up into the air, getting the expected roar of the crowd. Nora herself huffed and sagged, allowing her own exhaustion and depletion of Aura to overtake her as she leaned on Magnhild. Suddenly, her pupils dilated, and she snapped a _livid_ look at her defeated opponents. In one deft move, before Pyrrha could even begin to react, she swung Magnhild into its grenade launcher form, snapped it up at the two and-

Furiously jammed it behind her back and onto her belt, visibly fighting against every fibre of her being as she stared at the two in disgust.

"You're not worth it," she spat, before stomping off into the stands. Pyrrha glanced at Emerald and Mercury and, finding no clues in their stunned expressions, followed the orange-haired girl to get an explanation.

Had she stayed a few seconds longer, she might have heard a fearfully muttered " _Shit."_ come from Emerald.

~o~

Ruby let out a soft mutter of annoyance as she looked through a periscope at the ruins of Mountain Glenn.

"What is it?" Blake asked from where she was seated, reading the seventh volume of Ninjas of Love.

"There's not enough Grimm around." Ruby grimaced. "Which is probably the first time anyone's ever said that. But anyway, there should be a lot more Grimm if Yang's and Weiss' end of the plan worked."

Blake's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "You think that part of the plan failed," she stated.

"Pretty much, yeah," Ruby sighed as she climbed down from the periscope. "Good thing I have my Scroll recording the entire tournament!"

"Of course you do," Blake drawled, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

Five minutes later, Blake was banging her head against the wall and Ruby had used her Scroll as a makeshift skeet.

"Damn _bitch!_ The _one_ time we want her to act in a violent and unpredictable manner!" Ruby growled, running her fingers through her hair furiously as she paced back and forth. "Now we have to move to Plan B!"

"Ugh, I hate Plan B. Can we not do Plan B?" Blake groaned.

"Well, then we have to go to Plan C," Ruby retorted. "Do you remember Plan C, Blake? Do you?"

The cat faunus flinched as she recalled Plan C, her ears folding against her skull. The Strategos were... uncomfortable with that plan, to say the least. "Yes..."

"And _besides_..." Ruby gave Blake a cold look. "Do you _really_ want to keep them around? I've seen the people that Brownnose targets, their ages. And the things that Oxenfree did before I recruited him, the things he's done since... and I know I'm not the only one who's noticed how Cecilia looks at me, am I?"

A shiver ran up Blake's spine at the thought. "God no..."

Ruby landed a heavy hand on her friend's shoulder. "This was always coming. Sooner or later, for better or worse, we _were_ going to do this. At least this way, their lives have _some_ kind of purpose."

Blake was silent for a moment longer before slowly nodding in agreement. "... Fine. Fine, we'll go with plan B. You get your men and I'll get mine?"

"Deal."

~o~

Ruby looked out over the small crowd gathered before her and Blake; a crowd of the scum of the earth. Now, coming from a terrorist and classic crime boss, this might have seemed hypocritical, but even global-grade criminals have standards. And the men and women before them violated said standards six ways to Sunday, and all-too-often a seventh for good measure.

Children, for instance. Children tended to be off-limits unless there was absolutely no other way, and even then hardened career criminals tended to hate child molesters with a passion.

The point was that even by their admittedly lax standards, the scum before Ruby and Blake were just terrible, awful people, and you'd be doing the world a favor by killing them.

Three guesses what Plan B consisted of, and the first two don't count.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we've called you all here, on the eve of greatest triumph," Blake began. Ruby grinned; Blake always was better at the speechifying. "Some of you are here because of a preference for children. Others, for simply taking a bit too much fun in slowly disemboweling targets. And others yet for those... night time activities you take so much sick, disgusting pleasure in that you think we don't know about."

The crowd began to shuffle in anticipation, with more than one murderous grin spreading across their faces.

"Your mission is simple." On cue, Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and shot one of them in the head, the high-caliber round exploding the body part like a rotten melon. The crowd froze, watching in horror as the headless corpse slumped to the ground.

"Run."

They did, fleeing for the trees and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Good job with the speech," Ruby complimented. "You really had them going there. How long should we give them?"

"Eh, another thirty seconds," Blake decided after checking her watch.

"Of course, of course."

The thirty seconds passed quickly, and the two unslung their weapons and stepped into the forest.

"Shall we?"

"Let's."

~o~

Several miles away, a man in grey, his hair black but speckled with white, paused at the top of a large hill to take a sip out of the hip flask he carried at his waist.

"Dammit, I'm getting old," Qrow groused. "I would've gotten here an hour ago five years ago."

Pulling out a pair of binoculars, he turned his gaze on the ruined city in the distance. There was no sign of activity.

"Really hoping this isn't another dead end or red herring," he grumbled, putting the binoculars away.

He blinked as the sound of a male voice screaming dopplered towards him. A faunus in a battered, dishevelled White Fang uniform, his nose a brown one like a dog's, burst out of the underbrush.

"Y-You've gotta help me!" the faunus exclaimed. "The Bloody Rose… she's gonna kill me! And then eat my liver with Chianti and garlic!"

Qrow's eyes widened fractionally, even as he resisted the urge to roll them. "So, the Bloody Rose is here? In Mountain Glenn?"

"Y-Yeah, man! W-Wait, are you a Huntsman?" The faunus grinned. "That's great! Maybe you can kill-"

*SHINK!*

The faunus stared dumbly at the blade sticking out his chest. "Her?"

"Word of advice _buddy,"_ Qrow grunted as he used his foot to shove the body off of his sword. "Next time you try to get help from a Huntsman while you're wanted dead or alive for fifteen counts of rape, try to hide your face." He spared the dying man a disgusted glance before turning back to Mountain Glenn.

"I've finally found you," he said, grinning. Suddenly, he swayed in place, his eyelids heavy. "Wait til morning, huh? Jeez, you're so picky."

Sighing, he unslung his pack and began setting up his tent. It wasn't like it was likely that Ruby would be going anywhere before tomorrow morning. He could get a good night's sleep and face her at full strength.

Then, the next day, he'd go in there and bring his little girl back home. Whether she wanted to or not.

~o~

Weiss felt as if her smile was made of rubber, so hard was it to keep it up. She could feel sweat trickling down her back, which felt disgusting. And yet, she somehow managed to keep her cool.

Literally. The chair she was sitting in was starting to freeze over.

"Motherfucker!"

Yang was not nearly so restrained, and not just in word, either. Her pacing was steadily burning a hole in the carpet. Were it any other day, Weiss would have berated her for it. Today, however... today she just couldn't be brought to give a damn.

"Why the fuck didn't she blow them up?!" the blonde woman ranted. "She has _anger management_ issues, she gets _tunnel vision, berserker rages!_ Hell, I'd have blown them up and then snapped their spines over my knee in her position, and she makes me look like a fucking _saint!"_

"We need to call Blake and Ruby," Weiss decided.

"Hell yes we need to call Blake and Ruby!" Yang snapped, pulling out her Scroll. "They're the ones who have to deal with the fact that there's not gonna be enough Grimm!"

Yang held the device up to her ear, impatiently tapping her foot as it rang.

" _Hello?"_

"Ruby, we've got a big fucking-" Yang paused and frowned as she heard rustling leaves and Crescent Rose's distinctive clacking. "Sis, are you stress-hunting again? I mean, I know it's better than the caffeine, but-"

" _Blake and I are running Plan B. Thanks for_ nothing _, by the way."_

Yang's frown held as she covered the Scroll and leaned over to whisper in Weiss' ear. "What's Plan B again?"

"Plan B is to gather all the worst members of their organizations and hunt them," Weiss whispered back, gnawing on her thumb nervously. "Cathartic, and their terror will draw the Grimm."

"Ah." Yang uncovered her phone and put it back up to her ear. "Well, good to hear that you're on top of things."

" _You mean cleaning up your mistakes."_ There was a brief pause on the line. " _Sorry, you didn't deserve that. I'm just a little stressed out right now, so please tell me Emerald will be in place for tomorrow?"_

"That's still on track, thank God," Yang sighed. "Neo's here, too. But, sis… what if Plan B doesn't bring in enough Grimm?"

" _You know what Plan C is, Yang. We move to that."_

Yang winced. "And that one relies on a mostly untested power and might not be something we can handle once it gets here. Lovely." Her hand drifted up and began kneading at her temples. "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. Good luck out there, sis."

" _Good luck to you too, Yang."_

"Plan C?" Weiss echoed as Yang hung up. "I wasn't told about any 'Plan C'."

"I didn't tell you?" Yang asked, sounding honestly surprised. "I could've sworn I did."

"No, you didn't," Weiss frostily replied. "I suggest you tell me. Now."

"Yeah…" Yang trailed off uncomfortably. "Y'know that thing Ruby and Blake found under Mountain Glenn? And our... unexpected trump card?"

Weiss' eyes widened as she connected the dots. "You don't mean-!"

"Yeah, there's a reason it's Plan C," Yang sighed.

"And you didn't think to tell me until literally the day before it might be implemented?!" Weiss demanded, surging to her feet.

"They only came up with this plan a week ago, they told _me_ three days ago, and we've all been just a little _busy_ with preparations!" Yang snapped back. "So you can take your righteous indignation and shove it up your ass!"

For a moment, the two glared daggers at each other, and then Weiss sighed explosively and plopped back down on the frozen chair. "Ugh, this sucks..." Weiss groaned.

"I thought you didn't mind sitting in permafrost?" Yang joked weakly.

Weiss looked up and _tried_ to pin her friend with a glare before giving up the ghost in favor of a long-suffering look. "It's like waiting to enter a board meeting times a thousand. And if one thing screws up, if one detail is out of place, then... we're screwed."

"Look on the bright side," Yang said. "Once we hit the one-on-ones tomorrow, it'll be smooth sailing. Those things always drag on."

~o~

The next evening, Yang was glaring at Weiss, who had the good grace to look sheepish.

"So, I might have forgotten how good Pyrrha is at these one-on-ones…" She returned a glare of her own at Yang. "And who was the one tempting fate, hmm? 'The fights always drag on' my ass! Remember, the universe is always listening."

Down below, Sun Wukong was being carted off the field, Pyrrha hovering by the stretcher and clearly apologizing profusely.

"Okay…" Yang breathed, breaking off the glare. "This isn't the end of the world. We've got three more matches before her next one. And hopefully that'll take longer."

"Actually…" Weiss mused, quickly grabbing her Scroll and inputting a command. "There we go. I just ordered Penny to draw out her fights as much as possible while still winning. That'll buy us some more time."

"Good thinking, Weiss," Yang replied, throwing a thumbs up.

Naturally, Penny's match took quite a while. And as the next two matches proceeded as normal, the Strategos began to relax and enjoy the fights. Finally, Penny and Pyrrha were up.

"Come on, Penny, draw it out," Weiss pleaded under her breath. For a moment, Weiss and Yang believed that Penny could do it.

And then Pyrrha grabbed the strings and hurled the gynoid against the glass partition of their box.

"Sorry, friends..." she mouthed before she slid out of sight with an audible squeaking on the glass.

The Strategos watched as the gynoid slid fully down the glass and out of sight.

"... Fuck," Weiss succinctly summarized. She started in surprise as Yang got up and headed for the exit to the box. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Call Ruby and Blake, see if they can speed things up," Yang shot back over her shoulder. "I've got an idea. It might work, it might not."

And with that cryptic comment, Yang left.

"I swear, that woman drives me batty…" Weiss grumbled as she pulled out her Scroll and dialed a depressingly familiar number. "Blake, we've got a-"

" _Strategos Beta, we've got a serious_ _Qrow-shaped problem."_

" _What!?"_ Weiss hissed frantically, already snatching up another Scroll and frantically dialing up Mercury, Emerald, Adam, _anyone_ she could contact. "Damn it, how far out is he!?"

" _That's- GAH! That's the problem! He isn't far out at all!"_

~o~

"He's right- _SHIT!"_ Blake cursed as she dashed through Mountain Glenn's dilapidated cityscape, ducking under a threshold that Qrow slashed clean through. "He's right on fucking top of us! We need to launch, now!"

" _For fuck's sake, how'd he find you guys on_ this specific day?! _No, never mind, what do you mean right on top of you?"_

"I mean he's in the fucking base!" Blake shouted. "He's trying to chop me in half and Ruby's on her way, but I don't know if I can stay ahead of him long enough for her to get here!"

" _Okay."_ Weiss most emphatically did not sound okay. " _We're in the semifinals-"_

"WHAT!"

" _If you'll let me_ finish, _we're in the semifinals, Yang apparently has a stall plan, and Emerald's in position to block communications. If you get that train running in the next five minutes, we can still salvage this."_

"Hold that thought," Blake bit out as she dashed into the main cavern - and was promptly stabbed from behind. The shadow clone burst into smoke, and Blake launched a furious twin-blade assault against Qrow, who parried the blows and countered with a flurry of strikes with his scythe against the cat faunus. Some frantic dodging and a few more shadow clones allowed her to evade them, but she could also clearly see that she was about to be trapped against a wall. Her back bumped against the stone, and she braced for impact.

It never came. Instead, a red blur slammed into Qrow, knocking him away and unleashing a veritable whirlwind that forced him to actually _backpedal_. Blake took the opportunity to make a break for the train and put her scroll back up to her ear.

" _\- motherfucking crazy bitch!"_ Weiss was ranting into the device. " _I cannot believe she'd… actually, I can believe it! And that just makes it worse! Worst of all, I think that this reckless insanity might actually even WORK!"_

"What are you- never mind, don't tell me," Blake decided. "I take that was Yang's distraction?"

" _Yes, it was - is, she's still doing it - and I am going to_ strangle _her when she's done!"_

"Good, because I'm just getting to the train and Ruby's holding Qrow off, and I need to get on the train and get out of here before she uses our trump card, and I, for one, _do not_ want to be reminded of why we chose to make that our _absolute last fucking resort!_ "

" _Alright, alright, I'll let you go and just settle for enjoying this metaphorical trainwreck. Probably better for my health. Oh, and make sure you don't get caught up in the literal one."_

Blake ended the call just as she skidded into the depot yard where Torchwick was puffing on a cigar. "Torchwick!"

The man in question jumped slightly, turning from his preparations to confront the uncharacteristically frantic faunus. "Y-Yes?"

"I need that train loaded up and ready to go yesterday!" Blake barked, turning her glare on several White Fang members milling about. "And get on board already!"

"Well, I have good news then, milady," Torchwick drawled as the soldiers behind him dashed for the train. "We're all loaded up, and the charges have been placed. All we need is a signal and we're good to go."

"Oh thank God _something's_ going right today," Blake breathed. "Okay, let's get on board and get out of here. Now."

"Geez, Belladonna, what's the rush?"

Blake jabbed her thumb at the main cavern, where Ruby and Qrow were trading slashes in mid-air. They had barely landed when both sped into motion, Ruby a tornado of red and black while Qrow's scythe blurred around him, the man himself only taking small steps evade.

"Right, good call, LET'S ROLL!" Roman immediately amended, pounding on the engine. The diesel motors within began running, and the train slowly began to nose forward, rapidly picking up speed and Roman and Blake hanging off its side. Soon they passed the first charge, which promptly blew a hole in the roof of the tunnel. Grimm poured in, mostly small but with quite a few larger ones.

"I think we're good until we hit the end of the tunnel," Roman remarked.

"I hope so…" Blake murmured, looking back to the cave complex.

Roman sighed and poked Blake on the shoulder with his cane. "Look, Belladonna," he lectured. "No matter how much I think she's a brat, Little Red knows what she's doing. Even if she loses, she'll be able to bug out. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't fancy hanging off the side of this train once it hits max speed. I'll be in the cab, and I recommend you join me."

As Roman clambered up, the wind whistling in his ears, he didn't hear Blake murmur one last worry.

"That's not the problem…"

~o~

Pyrrha gave a friendly wave to her opponent. Penelope, of Team PNCK, had been something of a dark horse since the four-on-fours, her adept handling of Dust delighting the audience. Despite this, she seemed incredibly nervous being out there by herself, hence the attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

"GO PENELOPE! YOU CAN DO IT!"

The girl perked up a bit and glanced back to the three very large, very muscular men in the stands waving a hand-made banner that repeated their cheer. She blushed, straightened up, and turned to Pyrrha with considerably more confidence.

"BEGIN!"

Penelope opened up the match by immediately conjuring up not one, but _twelve_ different Dust-powered glyphs, each using a different type. The glyphs merged together into one massive runic circle, glowing with barely restrained power.

"ABYSS BREAK!"

And then the arena exploded. Like, literally the whole thing lit up in fire and smoke and who knows what else.

Penelope scanned the floor as the cloud of smoke began to clear. To her surprise, her opponent wasn't there. She made to move forward - and found herself arrested by Milo stabbing into the hem of her jacket.

"Wha- when did she-"

Any further confusion was cut off by Pyrrha's boots slamming into her face. The redhead dropped to the ground, recalling Milo - only to find Penelope already out cold.

"That was… easier than I expected," Pyrrha muttered to herself before shrugging and pointing her spear up again.

Unfortunately for Pyrrha, her solo triumph only lasted for a moment before she was nearly bowled over by a swift blur of orange and yellow slamming into and subsequently hugging her. "YOU DID IT! WE WON!" Jaune whooped eagerly.

"Nice going, Pyrrha," Ren nodded happily as he patted her free shoulder.

This happiness was swiftly lost as Nora scooped all three of her teammates up into the air and _squeezed._ "EEEEEE I'M SO HAPPY!"

"AGH!"

"MY SPINE!"

"NORA, AIR!"

"A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR CHAMPIONS!" Port boomed from the announcer's booth. The audience complied, standing up as one and roaring as one.

"Excellent! Thank you all for coming and showing your support to our future Huntsmen and Huntresses! I bid you all a good evening, as well as a friendly reminder to be back tomorrow for the inter-te- What the-!? Xiao Long, what do you think you're-!? Hey get away from-OW!"

Nora promptly dropped her cargo, much to her teammates' relief, in favor of gazing up at the announcer's booth at the commotion going on inside.

"Please be what I think it is, please be what I think it is…" she chanted.

"'Sup, thundercunts!" Yang announced from the booth. "Lemme hear some noise!"

The stadium was was pointedly silent, except for one notable "Whoo!" from somewhere in the crowd.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Yang continued, pacing in the booth as she addressed the crowd. "I'm interrupting, I'm stealing the spotlight from the champions. And I promise, I won't take too much of your time. I just wanna say something."

Her easygoing grin morphed into an aggravated scowl. "Really?!" she demanded. "Are you really satisfied with this… ten-second snoozefest of a finale?! I mean, sure, Nikos was a badass, no one is denying that, but, well- Ah! Get off of me, you stupid old man! You can have your mic back in a minute! - We all already know that _she's_ gonna win tomorrow! Where's the tension?! Where's the _excitement!?_ So, anyways, in the name of good entertainment, I've got a proposal to make things a little more interesting here on this final night. All of Team JNPR versus _one_ person. One single, individual badass of epic proportions, who can single-handedly eclipse almost _every_ other person in this arena!"

The glass window to the announcer's booth suddenly shattered out of its housing, glass shards falling towards and breaking against the arena floor. The cause of the explosion, a figure resplendent in gold and khaki, launched itself out of the booth, and Yang landed on the edge of the arena in a perfect three-point stance, head bowed before she slowly raised it to reveal the wide grin plastered on her face.

"Me."

And the audience _erupted_.

~o~

Deep within the bowels of the Amity Colosseum there was a small room tucked well away from where visitors could go. Within, several operators managed the connections between the internal communications network and outside comms. And after Scrolls got popular, someone had crammed in a large wi-fi station that was central to the Coliseum's network so that visitors didn't have to rely on CCT coverage that could be spotty at best when going over deserted areas.

The point being, this one room was the key to Amity Coliseum communicating with the outside world, aside from Ironwood's and Weiss' personal comms. This was very quickly recognized to be a massive vulnerability, and was layered with security: cameras, motion detectors, pressure plates, and Atlesian Knights stationed at key points. Not to mention the comms personnel were trained fighters themselves.

None of that mattered as Emerald Sustrai walked over their unconscious bodies to the computer systems that managed everything. After all, all that security wouldn't do any good against someone who already had inside access to the system.

"Hmm," Emerald muttered to herself as she called up the operating system and examined the code. "Where is it… ah, there!"

Typing in a quick command, Emerald pressed the enter key and allowed one of the two viruses they'd managed to sneak past Atlas computer security back during the dance to work its magic. This one was to block communications from outside the Coliseum. All that was needed was one push of a button on her Scroll...

"That should do it," she decided, tucking the device back into her pocket. "I'd better get back to my seat before Neo decides it would be funny to do… well, anything besides keep up the illusion."

~o~

Ruby grit her teeth as she swung Crescent Rose at her uncle again, only for the blade to skitter off of Qrow's own. This was ridiculous; she was moving fast enough that even Qrow's movements seemed like they were in slow motion, and she _still_ hadn't landed a clean hit! Fucking Semblances!

And yes, she was aware of the hypocrisy of that thought, but dammit that didn't make it not true! Precognition, even as brief as it was, was just such _bullshit!_ She'd thought she was going fast enough to compensate, but clearly not.

At least Blake had gotten away clean, because honestly, she couldn't keep up this level of exertion for very much longer.

Case in point, Qrow's blade nearly skewering her right eye as she blurred in for another attack, only a last-second pull of her head saving it. The scythe still carved a small cut on her cheek.

Hopping back, Ruby put some distance between them, hoping to catch her breath.

"Ah, good, you didn't give me a chance to say hello," Qrow drawled in an infuriatingly casual tone. "I must say, this is quite the setup you've got here. Very impressive."

Ruby didn't say anything in favor of glaring balefully at him.

"Ruby, please," Qrow sighed, holding out his hand. "I don't know why you feel the need to do this, but come back. Leave this all behind. I know you, and this isn't you. The little girl who loved cookies would never have done something like this."

"I still do love cookies, you know," Ruby said softly. "But… I won't say you wouldn't understand. I _know_ , though, from the bottom of my heart, that you wouldn't agree. Or approve. But what we're doing is... important. Unprecedented, even. And I can't let you, or anyone else, stop us. So I'm sorry, Uncle, but I can't leave this. I just can't."

"Ruby…"

"No more talking, Uncle," Ruby interrupted, hefting Crescent Rose again. "I stopped listening to you a long time ago."

With that, Ruby launched herself forward, intent on skewering Qrow. Once again, his blade was there to stop hers, and the two locked together, straining against each other.

"You're getting slower, Ruby," Qrow observed. "It's tiring to go that fast, isn't it? Even for you."

His booted foot lashed out, slamming into Ruby's gut. She skidded back with only a grunt of pain, and hastily parried as Qrow went on the offensive for the first time that day.

"Hell, even your defenses are depleted," Qrow continued as they danced around each other. "You must have gambled everything on overwhelming me at the start. And I gotta admit, it nearly worked."

Another slash from Qrow batted Crescent Rose out of the way, and a bullet knocked it clear off balance. Her guard wide open, Ruby had no answer for the slash that carved a gaping wound in her chest, coming damn close to cutting into her sternum. She gasped, left hand darting to the cut as it dripped blood onto the cavern floor.

"Nearly," Qrow remarked as he walked up to her, scythe at ready. "I'm not going to kill you, but I will bring you back, even if I have to break all your limbs to do it."

Ruby gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. She still couldn't beat him. Even after all those years, after all her training, after all the time and effort they'd put into it, she still couldn't win.

In the end, Ruby Rose, founder and leader of the Crimson Thorns and one of the creators of the grand Commission... just wasn't strong enough.

They'd all known it would happen. That one day, they'd be caught alone against a foe too strong for them to face, to beat alone. That one day one of them would slip or fall...

Before Qrow could react, Ruby suddenly flashed to halfway down the street, standing on shaking legs with her head bowed. "No... not yet..." she hissed to herself.

But that day was not today. Not while she still had a way out.

There was only one option left. One final, definite path she could take. She didn't want to use it, none of the Strategos had ever wanted to use it, but as it was... it was all she had.

And as Ruby prepared to use the Strategos' unexpected and wholly suspect windfall, she cast her mind back.

Back to the day they received this boon without choice or warning.

Back to the day the sheer extent of their undertaking changed _forever._

~o~

 _Ruby sat in her office, going over the forged documents she needed to actually own the building she was currently in. All of it looked in order, so soon she could officially christen the Mistral branch of the Crimson Thorns!_

 _A series of meaty thuds outside drew her attention. She shrugged; probably some local punks checking out the place and getting beaten up for their troubles. And as the noise died down, reaffirming her conclusion, she went back to work._

 _Not two minutes later someone kicked her door down._

" _Bloody Rose!" announced the intruder, a blue-haired teenage girl in a blue and white outfit startlingly close to her old Beacon ensemble. Not to mention green plastic wings of some kind flaring from the corners of her eyes. Tacky, if well made. "My name is Haruko Miki, and today I will bring you to justice!"_

 _Ruby analyzed her with a flat look before rolling her eyes at the display. Extravagant, but belying a_ stupid _amount of naivete and rookie-ness. Overall, nothing close to a legitimate threat. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I don't know why my guys let you in, but I suggest you run home and forget everything you saw here. I know I might not look it, but this isn't a place for children, and I am really busy." And with that, she turned back to her work._

" _Don't ignore me!"_

 _Aura gave her barely a split second of warning before a hunk of compacted dirt smashed her desk to splinters. That split second was enough for Ruby to jump up to the ceiling and unfurl Crescent Rose, firing a shot at the girl._

 _A shot that was blocked by_ leafy branches, _of all things, growing out of the wooden wall Haruko slapped her hand on, eye-wings glowing brightly. Ruby stared, dumbfounded, and was thrown through the wall and outside by a chunk of thrown concrete for her trouble._

 _She hastily rolled to her feet and cast a dumbfounded stare at the girl, trying to process what the_ ever-loving FUCK _was going on!_ " _Who the hell are you!?_ WHAT _the hell_ _are you!?" she frantically demanded._

 _The girl landed in front of her, legs spread apart, her left arm cocked on her hip and the other in the shape of a sideways v over her forehead. "I am Haruko Miki, the Spring Maiden, and I- WAGH!"_

 _Haruko stood up from her hasty duck, jabbing an accusatory finger at Ruby. "Hey! You tried to shoot me! During my speech! You can't do that!"_

" _Uh, yes, I can? Welcome to the real world, girlie," Ruby scoffed. "It's a cold, hard place, and maybe you'll learn something from this experience." Her mouth widened in a smile of the kind usually found on crazy knife wielders. "Assuming you survive, of course."_

 _Haruko almost started to scowl before she caught herself, switching to a simple glare. "Survive_ this, _you evil-doer!" she cried out, raising her fist into the air before slamming it into the concrete._

 _Ruby had a scant moment to leap away before the roof of the building_ exploded _on account of a massive tangle of vines and bark bursting up from the ground below, eviscerating the concrete and carrying Haruko high into the air._

" _Now, where was I?" Haruko tapped her chin innocently before grinning. "Oh, right!" She re-struck her previous pose. "I am Haruko Miki, the Spring Maiden, and today I will put an end to your evil deeds, Bloody Rose!"_

~o~

Ruby took a moment to take a deep, calming breath as she clenched her eyes shut and reached deep within herself. Searching... searching... _there._

She snapped her eyes open, and wings of verdant energy flared from them.

Qrow stumbled back, overcome by a combination of both shock and horror. "No..." he breathed numbly.

"Oh... _Yes..."_ Ruby hissed back. And with that, she took ahold of the power within her and _heaved_ her arms forward, throwing the energy with them. In response, the street behind her erupted in a spray of concrete and shrapnel, allowing a torrent of vines and earth to roar forwards.

Qrow leapt away, hacking at the vines as he went. They still followed him with a mindless relentlessness, forcing him to go up. His scythe bit into the concrete of a building, and he hurled himself skyward, coming to a soft landing on the roof. He only barely had time to whirl around, Ruby floating up to the top of the building on a large chunk of rock, her chest wound closing up before his eyes.

"Round two, _Qrow,_ " she spat viciously.


	14. Chapter 13

**AN: It's been a while, hasn't it? I could cite finals and schoolwork, I could cite a Dragon Ball Z fic I've been working on, even my beta work on This Bites!... but really, the reason is much more fundamental than that: I no longer want to write The Commission anymore. Every time I sit down to try and write it, now, it feels like a chore. The spark, the enthusiasm, is gone. And more, I'm unable to convince myself that it's a good story. So... you can all guess where this is going. Consider The Commission cancelled.**

 **That said, I do have one last thing for you loyal readers. I've had half of Chapter 13 written and sitting on my hard drive, waiting for the second half. So, to soften the blow somewhat, I'll leave you with one last update. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

Yang basked in the cheers of the crowd, her arms spread wide and hands beckoning the roars onward.

"Well, I'd say we have our answer!" the blonde announced into her mic. "If anyone still has objections, speak now so I know where to aim, or do us all a favor by keeping your traps shut forever!"

At that, she glanced expectantly up at the broadcast booth, where Port was glaring daggers down at her. Oobleck was nowhere in sight, presumably having left to get more 'coffee', if the thick caffeine-laden petroleum he drank could be classified as such. The older professor finally reached over and grabbed Oobleck's mic.

"Unless Team JNPR objects, I see no reason to not agree," he announced through gritted teeth, as if each word caused him physical injury.

Yang grinned, and turned back to Team JNPR. "So, whaddya guys say?" she asked. "Go, or no go?"

Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha glanced at each other before pulling into a huddle, presumably to decide whether to accept. Yang wasn't worried; between Weiss' visibility in the boxes and the Valkryrie girl's obvious enthusiasm, she was almost certain they'd accept.

Speaking of which…

Yang glanced over to Nora, and she let out a snort of suppressed laughter at the sight. The orange-haired girl seemed locked into a rigid board, a manic grin plastered on her face. Yesterday's insults might not have managed to induce tunnel-vision, but this turn of events clearly _had._

Oh, this was going to be _fun_.

Yang turned her attention back to the rest of the team, idly noting that the crowd was starting to get restless. The students probably noticed that, as they broke the huddle a few seconds later.

"We'll do it," Jaune told her. To his credit, there was only the barest hint of trepidation in his voice.

"Well, there you have it folks!" Yang announced into the mic. "The super-final round of the Vytal Festival Tournament is a go!"

The crowd erupted, clapping and shouting and stamping their feet. More surprisingly, the terrain-shifting activated, cliffs and pillars of orangish sandstone rising all around them. Surprised, Yang threw a glance into the stands and caught a glimpse of Penny waving back to her from where she was sitting.

As the high-walled canyon finished rising up, Yang made a mental note to thank Penny at a later date. In the meantime, she had a fight to manage.

Smile still in place, Yang slid into her stance, her body presented sideways to her opponents with her right leg forward and her right hand held up and open in a claw, her left lower and also clawed. The mic, meanwhile, was slid into one of the loops of her belt.

"Awwww, no punchy-punch?" Nora whined, even as she readied her hammer.

"Sorry," Yang apologized lightly, though her grin and tone of voice screamed that she really _wasn't_. "But if I went with my usual style, this'd be over too quickly. Gotta put on a show, y'know?"

The students slid into their own ready stances, and silence fell over the stadium as everyone waited for the signal.

"Begin!"

"DORAAAAAAA!" Nora shouted as she sprang forward, leaping into the air to smash her hammer down on Yang's skull. The blonde's smile didn't shift in the least, even as the hammer screamed towards her.

It was barely inches from her head when Yang _moved_ , her right hand reaching up and grabbing the shaft of the hammer. She yanked it towards her, and with Nora lacking any leverage she was brought along with it, the diminutive berserker hanging listlessly in front of her.

Nora's pupils promptly shrank back to more acceptable sizes as she realized that her momentum had been cancelled out. "... This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

"Ohohoh..." Yang chuckled darkly. "You have _no idea."_

And with that, her left hand shot up, latched itself to Nora's face, hauled back - wrenching her off of Magnhild's handle in the process - and _flung_ her back at her teammates.

Jaune, who had been leading his teammates in a charge, was the unfortunate recipient of the impromptu missile. Unable to stop and brace himself, when Nora hit him square in chest she knocked him clean off his feet, sending the both flying back into one of the rock formations.

Pyrrha, for her part, practically came to a halt as she gawked at her leader and teammate flying past her. That said, she wasn't so distracted that she didn't notice Yang throwing Magnhild straight at her. The thrown hammer was hastily caught on her shield, but it had the desired effect of completely killing her momentum.

All of which left Ren charging head-on at one of the best hand-to-hand fighters on the planet.

To his credit, he didn't let that fact affect him in the least. Ducking under a grab, he transitioned into a low sweep kick, then a jumping palm uppercut when Yang hopped over his first attack. When that was dodged, too, he swept out his Stormflowers and dashed for his opponent immediately upon hitting the ground. The twin bladed SMGs lashed out, Yang evading the first three slashes. The fourth was not dodged. Instead, its point was caught in the general's palm. Her open, completely unarmored palm... and stopped dead.

"Oh what the hell," Ren summarized flatly.

Yang merely grinned cheekily in response. "I know I said no punchy-punch," she purred. "But I think I can mix it in a little."

She gripped the Stormflower in her palm, shifted her stance - and the brought her right fist down in a thundering smash that caught Ren right in the face and slammed him into the ground. The impact shook the stadium and cracked the stone underneath, and when she lifted her fist up Ren could do no more than lie there and bleed from the nose.

"Aw, shoot," Yang groaned. "I overdid it again." Without even looking up, she leaned back and used her palm to push Magnhild away from her.

"Wait, Nora, we need a plan of attack!" Yang heard Jaune yell as she dodged swing after swing.

"Yeah, I have a plan!" Nora shot back. "Attack!"

"I've heard better plans…" Yang pointed out, before punctuating the remark by grabbing Nora's arm as the hammer-wielder overextended again. "And coming from me that's saying something."

For a moment, Nora didn't realise what was going on, and then Yang's other hand gripped the front of her shirt. "Oh, fudgesicles…" she whimpered as Yang lifted her up and over her head before slamming her to the hard rock ground.

Unlike her partner, Nora stayed conscious, though from the moaning and rubbing of the back the throw had _hurt_. Yang had no time to capitalize on it, however, as Jaune and Pyrrha made their assault. And what an assault it was. Both were focusing on small attacks - short swings, stabs - that left her few openings for a grapple. And whenever she tried to go on the offensive one of them would pick up the pace, forcing her to defend again. Of course, there was one minor problem for the students.

They still hadn't landed a single solid blow.

"Not bad," Yang quipped as she flowed around Milo and Crocea Mors. "Not bad at all. I dare say most opponents would be in serious trouble."

Suddenly, she vanished, and her voice came from _behind_ the two. "Sadly, I'm not most opponents. Now, enjoy your flight on the Nora Airlines!"

Jaune and Pyrrha started to whirl around-

*THWACK!*

Before Jaune staggered as Magnhild struck him right on the forehead. "Uh, oops?" Nora said sheepishly. "Wait, Jaune, behind you!"

"Too late!" Yang sing-songed as she wrapped her arms around Jaune's waist. "Take this!"

Throwing herself back, Yang slammed Jaune to the ground in a textbook Vacuan suplex. And yet, despite the third bone-crushing blow, Jaune began to pull himself to his feet.

"Sturdy one, ain'tcha?" Yang quipped, rearing back a fist. Her punch came down - and smashed into the stone two inches from Jaune's head.

Yang blinked, then stood up and glanced back at Pyrrha, whose hand was stretched out in her direction.

"You just vaulted to number one on the takedown list," Yang announced, jabbing a finger at the redhead. Crouching down, she dashed at Pyrrha, brought her fist back, and punched right at the center of the shield.

The metal rang like a gong, and the redhead was clearly wincing under the blow. Yang drew her fist back, only for Nora to interrupt.

"Hey! Remember me?!"

This time, Magnhild wasn't deflected or caught on the handle. No, this time Yang caught it straight on the head.

"You know what? You're right, we really should go to a one-on-one."

Nora let out a weak laugh before Yang swung her around and threw her at Jaune again, bowling both of them over. Again.

Unfortunately for Yang, that distraction cost her, as she turned to find a bronze shield up in her face and a spear stabbing into her thigh. The blonde countered with another punch to the shield, then another, the last visibly denting the metal and producing a very gratifying look of panic from Pyrrha. It also sent her skidding back and out of reach.

"Looks like it's just you and me, eh, Red?" Yang drawled, starting to pace back and forth. "Now, you guys are good, very good. Really! It's just, well, nine years more training, nine years more experience… it adds up, y-"

Yang was cut off as her own hand slapped itself onto the center of her face. Pyrrha lowered her hand, waiting for the blonde to do something. Instead of an attack, though, she just got her opponent lowering her hand and sighing.

"Okay, I probably should have seen that coming," she said, reaching down to undo the metal bracelets on her wrists. "And y'know what? I probably should take you seriously."

Ember Celica's bifurcated halves thudded to the ground, and Yang brought up her fists into a boxing stance. "Let's do this."

Pyrrha felt her stomach drop several feet as she brought Akouo up defensively, trying in vain to pop the dent out of the shield with her Semblance. " _Fuck."_

~o~

While most of Vale was glued to their TV sets watching the surprise exhibition game of the Vytal festival, a good number of people had taken advantage of the lack of crowds to hit the dance clubs or do some late-night shopping.

Seven people were in the Brandywine Boutique when nearly ten thousand tons of train slammed into the rather thin layer of bedrock separating Vale from the Mountain Glenn tunnel system at close to a hundred miles per hour. The engine pretty much disintegrated on impact, but basically acted as ablative armor for the cars behind it. It was a rough stop, but only a handful of the passengers passed out.

The White Fang loaded within immediately began spilling out, most on foot and others in their Paladin mechs. They did not, however, immediately go for the hole in the tunnel. Instead, they lined up, waiting, for there was only one among them who had the privilege - and, spoken only in their heads, the ability - to be first out of the Breach.

They didn't have to wait long before Blake Belladonna strode up to the front of the crowd, flanked by Adam Taurus and the Lieutenant.

"Soldiers of the White Fang, I will keep this brief," she began. "Outside, stands your enemy. Outside, stands the boot that grinds on the neck of all faunuskind. Outside… is your first chance to truly strike back! You know your duties, and I know you will carry them out to the best of your ability! All you need to do is follow me into Vale!"

"HURRAH!" came the resounding cry from the soldiers.

Nodding, Blake blurred away and onto the pile of rubble overlooking the square. Hundreds of people were out on the streets, rubbernecking at the devastation, and so they all saw her. It was unclear who screamed first, but it the panic proved infectious. Within seconds the crowd had turned into a screaming mob, one running every which way.

Under her mask, Blake smiled, both at the chaos and at her troops fanning out like a well-oiled machine. The smile fell when two soldiers, who had pushed ahead to scout a bit, were thrown back, accompanied by the click-clack of high heels. And it turned into an outright scowl when she saw who was rounding the corner of one of the streets branching off from the square.

"Winter Schnee," she said frigidly.

"Belladonna," Winter replied in an only marginally warmer tone, resplendent in her old Atlas uniform. Behind her, a half-platoon of white-clad soldiers were fanning out in a firing line, aiming at the White Fang soldiers, who for their part split off a group of their own to match, the rest streaming into the city.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked, hand drifting towards Gambol Shroud.

"Oh, you know how it is," Winter replied airily. "You come to Vale to finally put the finishing touches on the shiny new mercenary company you've put together, and then someone decides to launch a terrorist attack and provide a perfect opportunity to test them out."

"Enough of this," Adam suddenly growled. There was a bang, and Winter hastily drew her sword and batted aside the red blade as it rocketed towards her. Adam had already left Blake's side, leaping over Winter to grab his sword and swing it down at her. However, she smoothly turned around, facing Adam just as his swing started. Saber and katana met, and the red blade was turned aside.

As Adam came in for a landing, the Lieutenant sent a questioning glance to Blake. She glanced over at the white-clad soldiers, who hadn't moved, and nodded; Weiss' stories were handy, but she wanted to see Winter's skills for herself. But first, she relocated to the nearby rooftops as the last of her troops in the square started firing at the white-clad soldiers. Grimm were starting to spill out of the Breach, mostly lower-level ones, and while they avoided the fights in the square in favor of looking for easier prey, she did not want to waste Aura on killing them.

Not to mention, she was getting reports from squad leaders deeper about white-clad soldiers attempting to impede their advance. That was fine; the Grimm were supposed to do the main legwork anyway.

As for Winter's skills, they were formidable. Her assault against Adam, sword-to-sword, was fast and vicious, leaving him no option but to go entirely defensive. And she reacted perfectly to the Lieutenant's arrival, ducking down and swinging her heel into his jaw, and then transitioning seamlessly to further attacks against Adam while her summoned Grimm, a Beowolf Alpha in this case, fended off the Lieutenant.

Correction: a Beowolf Alpha that was outmatching the massive faunus. Blake glared down at the Schnee. Oh, she would definitely be a problem if she let her live. As Adam began his charged attack - and Blake knew it wouldn't work - she leaped into the air to join the fight herself.

As Winter leaped into the air herself, preparing to dive down on her subordinates' heads, Blake pressed a button in Gambol Shroud's handle, activating one of the assortment of Dust cartridges loaded in the magazine. Lightning Dust crackled, and she funneled the power, mixed with a fair amount of Aura, into her blade.

And then, at the apex of her leap, she unleashed it, a crackling crescent of energy that Winter only barely avoided and that carved through the street, several Grimm, and the building behind them.

Blake and Winter both landed at the same time, and she turned to her subordinates.

"Adam, Lieutenant, meet up with one of the squads," Blake ordered as she stepped towards Winter, her geta sandals clacking on the cobblestones. "You'll do more good out there than fighting her."

"Oh, really?" Winter drawled sarcastically. "And you're going to fight me, I assume?"

"No." More Dust energy flowed into her Aura, channeled not through her blade this time, but her Semblance. Clones of lightning, fire, shadow, rock, and ice sprang up around her, a veritable army of them. "I'm going to _kill_ you."

Blake felt a twinge of satisfaction as Winter's eyes widened in shock, the Schnee hastily throwing up a veritable field of glyphs as the clones charged forward. Tiny spectral Nevermores collided with fire clones in pretty explosions. Ursae formed a living wall that dispersed lightning clones. And the ice, stone, and shadow clones were met with a wave of ice and an ethereal Beowolf Alpha.

As spectacular as it was, the clones were merely a distraction for Blake to get behind Winter. Charging up Gambol Shroud with as much Aura as she dared, she stabbed forward, only for Winter to spin around and catch the blade in her hand. The sword edge still cut up her hand, but that was it, and it expended the energy given in the process.

Blake quickly hopped back as Winter attempted to bring her saber down on the cat faunus' head, Gambol Shroud sliding out of the Schnee's hands. Winter capitalized on this, rushing towards Blake with her blades split, but the White Fang leader simply dashed off to the side. Winter attempted to follow, but by then Blake was already moving again. And again. And again.

Soon she was outright blurring around Winter. She had to admit, it was a heady feeling, and she couldn't resist a little taunt.

"What's wrong? Can't keep up?"

Of all the responses she had been expecting, a smirk wasn't one of them. "You know what they say about counting chickens, Belladonna," Winter shot back as a series of green, clock-like glyphs sprang up around her.

Blake's eyes widened. She recognized those glyphs, glyphs that had allowed Weiss to match _Ruby_ in spars before.

Time dilation glyphs.

Time dilation was probably the most misunderstood of the Schnee abilities. Their mastery of dust, their platform glyphs, their summons - all were obvious, flashy, and easy to grasp. Time dilation? "Oh, you're just moving really fast, that's nothing special."

It wasn't just moving fast. It was thinking fast, reacting fast. And it was perfect for the current situation.

This time, it was Winter who was a blur when she attacked. Blake managed to hastily pull her head back, dumping as much Aura as she dared into speed. And yet, Winter still carved a chunk off the upper right side of the mask. And that was just the first blow. The rest had to be caught on her rapidly depleting Aura, knocking her about like a ragdoll.

Finally, the time dilation ended, allowing Blake to fall to her feet, sore and her Aura badly depleted - only to look up at the spectral Beowolf Alpha looming over her.

"Shit…" she muttered before the massive paw slammed down on her. And again. And again, and again, her Aura creaking and then shattering under the strain. Blake felt each blow more and more, skin tearing and bones creaking under each strike.

Finally, though, the onslaught stopped, leaving Blake lying in a small crater. She quickly did an assessment of her condition: upper kimono a tattered mess, the left side hanging over her shoulder and exposing her sarashi; the lower kimono torn all over; her mask in pieces on the ground; and a litany of bruise, cuts, and scrapes on her exposed skin. Oh, and barely any Aura left.

Still, nothing was broken, and there weren't any serious internal injuries. The conclusion was simple: she could still fight.

Planting her hands under her, and then her feet, Blake hauled herself upright, shooting a venomous glare at Winter, who was on her knees looking totally exhausted.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that…" the cat faunus growled.

"I quite doubt that," a panting Winter retorted with clearly false bravado. "Not when you're that torn up."

Blake bared her teeth in a bestial imitation of a smile. "Oh, and you're in better shape? Can you even stand?"

Winter visibly flinched at that.

"I didn't think so. Face it, Schnee, you're done."

With that, Blake stepped forward, ever so slowly. To her surprise, Winter did manage to haul herself to her feet. Still, it didn't change anything. One stab, and a thorn in their sides would be gone.

And then the earth shuddered.

Blake, with her preternatural balance, barely even wobbled. But she knew what was going on; after all, it had emerged right in front of her, and the sound of bone-plating skittering on asphalt was quite distinctive.

"A Deathstalker just burst out of the street behind me, didn't it?"

Blake glanced at Winter, vaguely aware of her ears folding back against her scalp, and merely pointed behind the Schnee. Indeed, a massive scorpion-esque Grimm had burst out from the tunnels beneath the city, and was bearing down on the pair with a series of enraged clicks.

On the plus side, the naked shock on Winter's face was quite satisfying.

Still, it was clearly time to go. Though in better shape than Winter, she knew she wasn't in any shape for a sustained fight. Thanks to the naked terror of the city's citizens, more and more Grimm were being drawn to and pouring out of the Breach, and most of them were old enough to be eyeing the both of them with far too much intelligence for comfort.

"Well," Blake stated simply, sheathing Gambol Shroud. "I'd _love_ to kill you right now, really I would, but seeing as I have a vested interest in staying alive, I'll just be going." She raised her hand in a mock salute. "Goodbye."

And with that, she hopped up onto the rooftops, leaving behind a clone to cover her retreat. Now, which way to the nearest safehouse?

~o~

Winter gritted her teeth as the clone she'd just stabbed dissipated. That damn _bitch_. She'd just _left_ her here! And the worst part was, it wasn't even a bad decision! She was completely exhausted, and that was a _lot_ of Grimm massing on the other side of the square, not to mention the Deathstalker bearing down on her.

Still, she was a Schnee. And if this was her day to die, she would go down on her feet and fighting.

Speaking of the Deathstalker, it was entirely too close. She could see the massive claws reaching for her-

CRASH!

Before it was promptly crushed by what must have been a multi-ton anchor dropping out of the sky and smashing it into the pavement. Not quite dead, the Grimm stirred and tried to lift itself out of the crater-

BOOM!

Until the cannon incorporated in the anchor's shank fired a blast of Dust energy clean through the creature, putting a definitive end to it.

Winter looked up to see a dark black Bullhead, a cartoon-like yellow tornado emblazoned on a large roundel on its side. It was also armed to the teeth, a turreted autocannon under the nose firing steadily into the swarm around the anchor and two winglets bristling with rockets and missiles. Standing in one of the bay doors was a young girl in a marine-colored sailor suit with dark brown hair tipped with white and two curving ram's horns on her head, and in her hand was a chain that led down to the anchor.

"If you're Winter Schnee, grab the fuck on!" the girl called out. "If you're not… well, hell, get on anyway unless you've got a death wish! But put your wallet on first if you do!"

"BO!" a voice shouted from inside the Bullhead.

"What!? Do _you_ want to waste good money!?"

Winter sighed as this "Bo" and the man inside started bickering. At least the Grimm were keeping back. Their puny little brains likely couldn't comprehend what had happened to the Deathstalker beyond the fact that it had suddenly died. The autocannon probably helped, too. And the anchor chain was right there; no need to dive into the crowd to get to it. Only one problem...

"No way in hell I'm climbing this thing myself," she muttered as her arms shook. She glanced up to where "Bo" was still bickering with someone. "Excuse me?"

"Yes I did need that game console and _no_ I do not buy too much!" the girl shot back acridly. "And furthermore- No, no you know what, Duke? Screw you for your high and mighty attitude and _fuck_ you judging me! I swear, if you had half as much common fucking decency in your being as I have in my left pinky-!"

"Excuse me!" Winter repeated more firmly.

"Well, then maybe you'd be a quarter of a decent human being! As it is, though, you're more like those damn Grimm down there! All bad feelings with no heart, no decency, no-"

"OI!"

"WHAT!?" the girl shouted back out of habit before starting in realization, glancing down and promptly flushing in embarrassment as she saw Winter looking up expectantly from where she was standing on the anchor. "R-Right, sorry."

She began to haul the anchor chain up, and soon Winter was well above the Grimm and could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Alright, VIP aboard!" the girl called into the cockpit as she helped haul Winter into the passenger bay. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

"You've got experience with _that,_ don't you?"

"I SWEAR TO GOD, DUKE!"

The Bullhead began to steadily rise, and soon Winter could grasp the true scale of the carnage in Vale. Multiple plumes of smoke and outright flame were rising above various parts of the city. The sounds of gunfire, screaming, and jet engines blended into a cacophony of noise. And she could see men in four different uniforms in the streets shooting at each other and the Grimm.

"Yeah, situation's all kinds fucked up, isn't it?" the girl stated. "And a good part of that is _your_ fault."

"My fault?!" Winter snapped. "I tried to stop this!"

"No, you're were carrying out a fucking vendetta against the White Fang!" the ram-horned girl fired back. "And the firefights your men are getting into with the Fang are hampering ours and Atlas' efforts! I mean, sure, I hate those scumbags as much as the next decent faunus, but at least _I_ have the decency to keep my hateboner in my fucking pants, so thanks for nothing!"

"In my defense, this was the first time my men had all been gathered together," Winter protested, somewhat weakly.

The girl opened her mouth, and then closed it. "Okay, yeah, that's a good point," she conceded. "But that just makes you challenging Blake fucking Belladonna to a goddamn one-on-one _honor duel_ even dumber! Control your damn troops next time, dammit!"

Winter sorely wanted to verbally demolish this little girl. She was already mentally preparing a long, well-reasoned retort. So exhausted was she, though, that the actual response was something along the lines of "Aren't you a little young to be a mercenary?"

"Yeah, well, aren't you supposed to be under house arrest on a two-acre beachfront property a continent away, you white-washed racist bi-MMPH!?" the girl screeched as a hand was clamped over her mouth.

"Excuse 'Little' Bo Blue," the other soldier in the Bullhead finally managed to cut in. "She's a goddamn prodigy, but she's also fifteen years old. Well, chronologically, at least. Physically and mentally, she's probably- YARGH! You bit me!"

"Mmm mm mmph!"

"Anyway…" the soldier ground out. "I'm Lieutenant Duke 'Crimson' Johnson, theoretically her partner, and really more her minder. Or babysitter, take your pick. Anyway, where do you want to be dropped off? We should probably be getting back into the fight."

Winter shook her head, trying to shake out the mental cobwebs. Dammit, she could pass out when she got to headquarters.

"Mobile base…" she muttered. "Fifth and Pine."

"You heard the lady!" she heard Duke call to the pilot as her consciousness began to slip away. "Fifth and Pine, and then we can get back to shooting things!"

~o~

Qrow was in hell. It was a hell of piercing vines and razor-edged leaves and thorns and rocks and sand. His precognition was of no use; there were simply too many threats coming from too many angles. His skill with his Aura, with his scythe, none of it mattered to the complete battlefield control Ruby possessed.

He could still see her, or rather, her distinctive red cloak, through the mass of greens and browns and tans. She was shrouded in nigh-impenetrable wood, and still had her scythe; he'd nearly impaled himself on it in one attempt to get at her.

Now, it was all he could do to defend. His scythe deflected some attacks; his rapidly fading Aura had to fend off the rest. At least, until a large vine slipped past his guard, slamming into his torso. He felt his Aura fail, along with three ribs, before slamming into a chunk of rock left over from the fight.

Through the haze of pain he could see Ruby using a vine to lift herself towards him. She clambered down onto the surface he was lying on, stopping so that he could only see her boots.

' _How?!'_ he demanded internally. ' _Miki might have been naive to hell and back and a bit of a bitch to boot, but she was as powerful as any Maiden! How could Ruby have gotten her powers?"_

"Well, the fact that she hated me with a passion helped."

' _Shit, I must've said that out loud.'_

"Aaaand, of course, the fact that she barged her way through my front door and made herself an open target didn't help anyone but me. Apart from that... I don't know, youthful enthusiasm maybe? Plus, seeing how my troops are mostly men over the age of thirty, the donor list for people matching the word 'maiden' was slim to none. But hey, enough about that! Tell me, have you thought about _bunnies_ recently?"

Qrow hastily got his hands under him and shoved, only _just_ managing to roll out of the way of the bullet Ruby put where his head had been laying. Ignoring the throbbing in his ribs and back, he began sprinting… away. Anywhere but near his niece.

' _She can't have gone all-out, it's the only explanation. We'd have_ known _if she'd gone all-out. And even then it can't have been easy for Ruby. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. She_ must _have been holding back, probably to satisfy that stupid need for_ fairness _._ _She always did like acting all prim and proper.'_

~o~

" _Stand still so I can break your knees you fucking cunt!"_

" _Language, young lady!" Ruby admonished as she weaved in and out of the rock shards and thorny vines her opponent was throwing at her. "What would your parents say if they heard you using that kind of language? I mean,_ before _they dropped you off on your head at the orphanage."_

" _GRAAAAAHHH!"_

 _Another wave of stone finished demolishing the warehouse that was supposed to be her headquarters. The small part of her not paying attention to the fight lamented that this was going to set them back by_ years _in Mistral. The rest was busy trying to decipher the problem in front of her while fighting to keep herself alive._

'I can't keep this up forever,' _she mentally grumbled._ 'And this brat just keeps going. Careless, barely any aim or control…'

 _She winced as thorn the size of her head cut through her cloak._

'But then again, so are shotguns. This is _way_ too effective for comfort.'

 _Defense would just see her whittled down by inches. She needed to go on the offensive. And… there. The opening she was waiting for. Landing on one of the vines that now comprised the battlefield, she planted her feet and_ pushed.

 _Ruby shot forward, breaking the sound barrier in under a second and leaving shredded vegetation in her wake. In front of her, she had the satisfaction of seeing Miki's eyes widen before the leading edge of Ruby's mach cone slammed into her._

 _Vines shredded, rock shattered, and the wannabe magical girl went flying, slamming into the ground with a sickening crack. Ruby skidded to a halt herself shortly after, immediately unslinging Crescent Rose and aiming the muzzle at the fallen Maiden._

 _And then towering pillars of_ sand _burst out from beneath the pavement, coming within inches of grinding Ruby into dust._

" _That's it," Haruko Miki growled as she hauled herself to her feet. "Screw Ozpin, screw holding back for the sake of the surroundings, and especially_ SCREW YOU!"

 _Ruby took a nervous step back as a pit of sand began to spread around the Haruko, then jumped back as it surged for her. Raising Crescent Rose, she quickly fired off three shots at the Maiden, only for a wall of sand to interpose itself in front of the bullets and stop them cold._

" _Fucking_ really _?" Ruby groaned, then promptly had to dodge again as another column of sand smashed into the ground where she'd been standing. Unfortunately, when she went to push off the rooftop she hopped onto, her foot slipped on unseen sand grains, and she found herself without solid footing as another column of sand dove after her._

 _Ruby winced._ 'Oh, this is going to hurt.'

 _Instead of slamming into her, though, it slammed into a white glyph bearing a very familiar sigil._

" _Ruby, what in the world is going on here?" Weiss Schnee asked as she strutted towards Ruby, Myrtenaster pointed at Haruko Miki. "One moment I'm preparing for a_ very _important meeting in my regional headquarters downtown, then next-!"_

" _Blood-Snow Reaper," Ruby hastily cut her off, her tone brooking no argument as she all but ripped Crescent Rose's current magazine out and rammed in the highest-power ammunition she had on hand._

 _Weiss took a moment to glance at her friend in shock before hastily pulling Myrtenaster into a ready position and spinning its cylinder to load up her_ good _stock. "Right. Go in three, two..." As Weiss spoke, she spun up a large Glyph beneath both their feet._

 _Haruko blinked in shock as she tried to process the nonsensical turn of events that had just occurred. She had just enough time to notice that the magic-spinny thing looked kind of like a clock and get out a dumbfounded "Wha-?"_ _before the world devolved into a blur of red-white-and-_ PAIN.

 _Ruby and Weiss tapped down on either side of her, Haruko hanging in the air for a brief moment before falling to the ground, bleeding profusely from her... well,_ everywhere _. The two stood, looked to each other, and nodded, before jumping down off the building they were on to where the Maiden was lying on the ground, bleeding out. Even with her injuries, she was still trying to fight, propping herself up on her forearms with a bloody snarl on her face. "Y-you... fucking-!"_

 _CRACK!_

" _ARGH!" Haruko shrieked, collapsing as Weiss's heel lashed out and cleanly snapped her ulna._

" _So..." the mega-CEO mused as she held Myrtenaster's tip against the girl's jugular, the threat clear and evident. "Who would this vile strumpet be?"_

 _Ruby glanced at Weiss with a cocked eyebrow even as she pressed Crescent Rose's glowing muzzle into the pseudo-magical girl's temple. "Strumpet? Really?"_

" _What? It's a perfectly valid insult!"_

" _Yeah, if you're an eighty-a-genarian!"_

" _First, you mean 'octogenarian'. Second it is a timeless and quite classical insult, and third-!"_

" _STOP IGNORING ME!" Haruko Miki shrieked, trying to push herself up on her relatively unmutilated right arm. All she managed to achieve for her troubles was getting her hand simultaneously crushed to a bloody pulp by two separate heels, which dragged a new scream out of her._

"Third," _Weiss continued frigidly. "The question still stands. Who is she, and how did she do... all of this?" She gestured helplessly at the general surroundings._

 _Ruby shook her head silently as she kneeled down to get more on the level with the girl, her weapon's barrel never shifting. "Her name's Haruko Miki; other than that, I don't have the slightest idea, but that's alright. We'll just make her tell us..."_

" _Like hell I wi-!" Haruko started to shriek, before Ruby's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed ahold of her jaw, forcing her to stare up into her eyes. Her cold-cold-_ cold _eyes._

" _She'll tell us all she knows," Ruby repeated venomously. "Before we make her regret every single second of her existence on this miserable planet."_

 _And thus did Haruko Miki know true fear._

~o~

As he ran, Qrow noted with increasing worry that the vines that covered the cavern weren't just going after him. They were drilling into the ground, cracking open the ceiling. What purpose that served, he didn't know, but it couldn't be anything good.

"Uncle…" he heard Ruby say behind him. "Do you believe in fairy tales?" She snorted. "Of course you do, you recognized the Maiden power as soon as you saw it."

The train tunnel came into view - as well as the gnarled tree covering the entrance. Qrow spun on his heel, trying to find another way out. There had to be one. How would the White Fang have gotten in otherwise?

"But the Maidens are just one story, one legend," Ruby continued, started to emanate green light like a verdant sun. "Let me show you another."

The vines on the floor and ceiling struck, surging into the cracks they'd made. Qrow suddenly had to add falling rocks to the list of hazards to avoid, but without Ruby actively attacking him it was a fairly easy task.

And then the ground exploded.

It was a tree, Qrow dimly recognized. A tree of immense size, composed of a myriad of thorn-gorged-vines growing at a completely unnatural rate and shattering the mountain underfoot. The veteran Huntsman found himself being carried up by the expanding trunk, and within seconds he could see the city of Vale in the distance.

And he could also see a disturbance below.

"No…" he breathed, eyes wide.

"Yes…" Ruby hissed from a branch above him. "Uncle Qrow, allow me to introduce you..."

"SKREEEEEONK!"

"To the Dragon of the Zodiac Grimm."

A massive black form, with red, bat-like wings, a lizard-like snout, two clawed feet, and a long tail studded with white thagomizers, soared into the air, screeching at the top of its lungs. It paused, seemed to sniff the air, and then zeroed in on Vale.

~o~

Ozpin gritted his teeth as he watched the images of downtown Vale on his monitors. Faunus in the masks of the White Fang shooting at well-equipped soldiers in white combat gear. Dueling paladins in an intersection, one dull-grey and the other shining white, each step crushing a car underfoot. More soldiers in the blue and grey of Atlas and the black and yellow of the Dust Devils holding off the Grimm as panicking civilians streamed past them.

He knew he should be committing something, anything, to the fighting going on in the city. But two things stayed his hand. First, the forces in the city seemed to have things mostly under control. Second, and more importantly, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen either here at Beacon or in the Coliseum. It was irrational, a gut feeling - and yet, he trusted that feeling, for it hadn't led him astray yet.

Suddenly, the school shook. Or rather, the ground shook, carrying the school with it. He tore his gaze from the monitors and to the massive bay windows looking out over the Emerald Forest. In the distance, he could plainly see a colossal tree growing out of the ground.

And, less than a minute later, an all-too-familiar shape.

"No…" he breathed, hastily reaching over and activating his intercom. "Glynda! Prepare for an attack!"

In his peripheral vision, he could see the Dragon wheel towards Beacon. And below, the tell-tale signs of a mass march of Grimm.

~o~

In her box in the Amity Coliseum, Weiss tilted her head up as she heard a sound. A faint one, some sort of reptilian roar.

"Finally…" she said softly to herself, a genuine smile creeping over her face. " _Something_ goes according to plan."


End file.
